Turmoil over military bank

Somewhere in 2013, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) organized a news conference in Accra to announce to the public, the decision to establish the Defence Industrial Holding Company (DIHOC), a limited liability venture, as the engine to drive the growth of the Ghanaian economy.

According to GAF, under the DIHOC, ten industries, which would greatly impact on the country’s socio-economic development and growth, had been selected for consideration.

These are the garment industry, footwear industry, pharmaceutical industry, agriculture and agro-processing industry, electrical and electronic engineering (with an initial interest in computer assembling plant, solar energy industry and mining of silica for the ICT industry), mechanical engineering, civil engineering, ship building industry, printing and publishing industry, as well as ammunition and explosive ordinance devices industry.

In addition, support in construction and civil works, medical outreach programmes, production of essential pharmaceutical drugs, as well as production of basic military hardware, clothing and other military gear for the security sector have been identified as strategic national needs, hence the involvement of the GAF in the rejuvenation of the Kumasi Shoe Factory.

GAF argued that to effectively manage human security challenges confronting the country today, it was important that the Ghana Armed Forces became more proactive in some aspects of the national socio-economic environment and remain focused in its desire to contribute towards national development.

Conspicuously missing from the list of this strategic plan, however, was the setting up of a bank by Burma Camp.

Though establishment of a bank is not part of the strategic plan announced to the public, the Military High Command has decided to venture into the sector, by setting up a bank called Service Integrity Saving and Loans Company.

The Bank of Ghana had already consented to the request and granted all the necessary permits for the bank to start operations.

Both civilian workers and serving personnel of the GAF are, however, not happy with the way the bank is being foisted on them by the Chief of Defence Staff and his team.

Available information to The Chronicle indicates that the military leadership had published in its internal newsletter, an order directed at all workers of the Forces to pick forms from the new bank and register with it. Workers (both civilians and soldiers) who fail to comply with June 24, 2016, deadline it has set, would not be paid.

In a nutshell, the workers are being forced to transfer their accounts with the various banks to the new GAF bank, for the transaction of their banking businesses. The Chronicle is informed that because of the ‘do before complain’ theory in the Armed Forces, all the serving soldiers have been compelled to obey the instruction, in order not to fall victim to any military disciplinary measures.

Some of the civilian workers, however, told The Chronicle that the autocratic measures that have been adopted by the military High Command was unacceptable in the current democratic dispensation that Ghana is enjoying.

According to them, the military did not get them involved in the process of establishing the bank. The workers further told The Chronicle that if their employers had done the necessary consultations, the two parties would have agreed as to whether every employee should automatically become a customer of the new bank or not.

They noted that some of them had taken huge loans from their banks with a promise to channel their monthly income through them (banks) to retire the loans. With the threat to suspend their salaries if they did not open accounts with the new Armed Forces Bank, the workers are wondering how they are going to honour the pledge of channelling their salaries through the banks.

“My dear brother, we are going to breach the contract we have with our banks and you know the consequence of breaching such contracts,” one of the workers told this reporter.

Some of the soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity, like their civilian counterparts, were also not happy with the directive from their leaders, even though they admitted that they have no option than to obey the orders to open accounts with the new bank.

According to them, with the adjustment in their salaries, they now qualify to take loans in excess of GHC20, 000 from their banks to start their building projects. They contended that the new Armed Forces bank would never give them loans as the traditional banks have been doing for them, hence their objection to the setting up of the bank.

When contacted, the Public Affairs Director of the GAF, Lt Col Quashie admitted to The Chronicle that his outfit had indeed established a bank with approval from the Central Bank. According to him, a team had been set up to go round all the military commands to explain the modalities to both the military personnel and the civilian workers.

Lt Col Quashie contended that those the team had already met understood the concept for establishing the bank. He claimed those the team was yet to meet are the people who are going public with certain information, which ought to have remained in the Service as internal secret.

Lt Col Quashie said if the team finally meet the complaining workers, they would understand and appreciate the decision that had been taken on their behalf by their leaders. When asked whether it was a normal practice for the Armed Forces to set up a bank, he said the society, of which GAF is part, is constantly changing and that they (GAF) also needed to change.

He, however, pointed out that they are not changing for the sake of change but actually contributing to solving the high unemployment rate in the country. “Those who are going to be employed are not only soldiers but the civilians as well’, he argued.

The Armed Forces Public Affairs Manager also told The Chronicle that the military have the way of communicating and that both soldiers and the civilian workers understand them. The comment was based on the question posed to him by this reporter that they have ‘ordered’ their employees to join the new bank against their wishes.

As indicated earlier, GAF is gradually venturing into non-core areas of their mandate to protect the land, air and sea borders of the country.

“The construction of bailey bridges and roads by the Field Engineer Regiment (now the 48 & 49 Engineer Regiment), Medical Outreach programmes by staff of the 37 Military Hospital, support for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the establishment of communication offices in Ghana’s Foreign Missions abroad by the Signal Corps, and Disaster Relief Operations by various units of the Army, Navy and Air Force, are some of the socio-economic activities the Armed Forces has been engaged in over the years.

“All these activities, except the establishment of the foreign communication offices, have been reactive to events taking place in the country. “However, to effectively manage human security challenges confronting the country today, it is important that the Ghana Armed Forces become more proactive in some aspects of the national socio-economic environment and remain focused in its desire to contribute towards national development.

“This will be in accordance with effective and efficient management of the social, socio-economic and human security needs of the country.

“This is the prime reason the Ghana Armed Forces is going into business and we are convinced that it is the direction to go as we strive to step up our efforts to support the Government to meet the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals as well as provide a more stable and conducive environment for private business to thrive.

“Skepticism aside, we think that there is a begging need for this initiative and new direction by the Ghana Armed Forces; if nothing at all to meet our own requirements as a means of shoring up state funding to the Ghana Armed Forces and overcoming challenges in delivery of badly needed support to the military,”

GAF argued in the 2013 news conference which was referenced earlier in this story.