My recent visit to Tamale in the last week of January 2023 was the first in twenty years since the last one in 2002. Somehow, at about 1,200 feet above sea level and a few minutes before landing at Tamale airport, my mind conjured up strong memories of the past. As Commanding Officer (CO) of the Ghana Military Academy (now Commandant) in the late 1990s, Tamale was my home every January to February from 1999-2002 when I took cadets to the Air Force (ABF) for the parachute training phase. from that training.
Why do I have the excitement that can be found at 1,200 feet?
Paga Crocodile Pool
Earlier, from Tamale I went further north to Bolgatanga from where I visited the Crocodile Pond in Paga which I first saw in 1999. The gruesome and amazing grandfather crocodile that I saw twenty years ago was not there. Seen his son, no less afraid, deputized for him, assuming he was still alive.
Undaunted, three women in uniform in our Gender Mainstreaming Team, Gp Capt (Colonel) Sophia Jiagge, Naval Capt (Colonel) Veronica Arhin and Maj Linda Oboh were the first to take pictures of individuals touching their midsections, and then holding them. the tail of the crocodile.
For many years the pool has been referred to as a tourist attraction, more needs to be done by the appropriate agency to make it possible to visit.
Parachuting
For operational jumps, paratroopers are dropped from 900 feet. However, for trainees, jumping starts from 1,200 feet.
As a Commandant, the first cadet cadet to parachute-jump from an aircraft, or para-trooping was in January/February 1999. The jump was preceded by weeks of intense and physically demanding training in harmattan heat and drought. Tamales. Perhaps the most useful comment about my group in 1999 was that the all-male team had two victims who broke their legs at various stages of the eight jumps to escape to the paratrooper wing.
Significantly, for the graduating class of millennium cadets in 2000, there were two women who for the first time in the history of the Ghana Armed Forces had to jump with their male counterparts. Showing a lot of grit and determination, two women O/Cdt Ernestina Assan and O/Cdt Vera Quaye successfully jumped into the history books as the Ghana Armed Forces first two female qualified paratroopers in January/February 2000.
I commend the efforts and encouragement of the Commander Lt. Col. MI Tetteh (now Brig. Gen. Rtd), and the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) and also the Parachute Jump Instructor (PJI) WO 1 Bawa Bezua from blessed memory. WO1 Bezua certainly deserves a posthumous honor for his contribution to the training of paratroopers in the Ghana Armed Forces.
“NGO capital”
When I asked what contributed to the many hotels and guesthouses in Tamale, I was told that the hotel/hospitality industry services many NGOs in and around Tamale. Indeed, Tamale has been described as the “NGO capital” of Ghana! Three-quarters of the passengers on my full flight to Tamale were expatriates from NGOs as their unique T-shirts suggested. Perhaps because my time was short, I did not see much development and wondered about the contribution of NGOs to support local efforts.
Instead, I saw the 20,000 capacity Tamale Sports Stadium (now the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium), which was built by Ghana for the 2008 African Cup of Football which it hosted.
Guinea-fowl
Remembering the childhood rhyme “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” I make time to rest / rest, especially through guinea-fowl. Years ago, Ghanaians were told that the guinea fowl of a certain project had flown to Burkina Faso. In the military they will be guilty of “AWOL” (Absent Without Cut). Fortunately, many descendants of the illegally migrated guinea fowl have returned home patriotically. In the evening I saw myself regale on the flesh of guinea-fowl.
Until the Commanding Officer, ABF took me and the instructor out for the first time in 1999, I was used to three or four of us like to share a plate of one guinea-fowl in Accra. To my surprise, six plates of guinea fowl landed on our six tables. Thinking it was a mistake, I drew the CO’s attention to the mistake. Amused replied with a laugh saying “Sir, here in Tamale, there is one person, one guinea-fowl (1M, 1G).” Good thing, fueled by a copious amount of beer/pito administration in response to the hot weather, we from Accra had no trouble completing the “1M, 1G)!”
talk
What brings us to Tamale and Bolgatanga, and next week, to Damongo and Wa? The answer is “GENDER MAINSTREAMING!”
In October 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on the effects of conflict on women/children was agreed. It also seeks to increase the participation of women in UN Peacekeeping Operations. Ghana was one of the early signatories to Canada’s move called the Elsie Initiative in 2017, to enable Resolution 1325 and subsequent Resolutions. It is the sensitization of this force, which brought us to the unit in Tamale, Bolgatanga etc.
My journey from Tamale to Bolgatanga, a distance of 162 kilometers took three hours. As for the road connecting the two regional capitals, the country leaves much to be desired, it has been seen to be damaged since the last trip in 2002. The team that did 80 kilometers about Bawku has no good words. Unfortunately, we always talk about the poor maintenance culture, but do nothing to reverse it!
When we crossed the White Volta with all the vast land around it, I asked myself, do we continue to import rice from Thailand, Vietnam, China etc., they import sugar, despite Komenda and Asutsuare from the 1960s, and even tomatoes/vegetables, crabs and tilapia from our neighborhood?
And after all our resources are careless, why pensioners that little gratuities we invested in bonds so callously told to bear the brunt of mismanagement in the twilight of our lives?
Remember Proverbs 21, 1, “a good name is better than gold!”
Finally, let us honor the first UN Forces Commander in Africa, General EA Erskine and Para-jumping Instructor (PJI) WO1 Bawa Bezuah, and the second living UN Forces Commander Ghana, General Seth Obeng! Because, by the way, the current Gender Mainstreaming drive that we are doing, can be attributed to the foundation that the General laid as the Commander in Chief many years ago.
Leadership, leadership!
Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (RTD)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
Nairobi, Kenya
Chairman of the Board
University of Family Health
Accra
[email protected]
Source: Brig-Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd), Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya
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