On 6 August 2025, the Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 crashed, leading to the death of the then defense minister, Edward Omane Boamah (M.D) and seven others. It was very traumatic for the president and the families of the victims of the afore-referenced crash.

The writer experienced vicarious trauma due to the crash and dealing with trauma is very ethereal. Individuals who experience trauma, such as the surviving families and President John Dramani Mahama (JDM), appear to have recognized the four F's”: Fight (Confronting the threat with aggression, anger,
irritability, or an urge to lash out, accompanied by increased heart rate and energy).

Flight (Running away from the situation, feeling restless, anxious, or needing to escape, often leading to over-scheduling or restlessness). Freeze (Being physically or mentally stuck, numb, disoriented, or dissociated, unable to move or make decisions).

Fawn (Trying to please or appease the threat to avoid harm, appearing overly polite, helpful). These natural responses are triggered by the brain’s survival system, which prepares the body with adrenaline and cortisol in anticipation of a threat.

This becomes an issue when stuck in a cycle after the danger passes, leading to Acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These stresses are marked by intrusive memories, flashbacks, hypervigilance,
anhedonia, and feelings of hopelessness nearly every day.

The writer empathized with the President and his cabinet members. Considering JDM’s experience in politics, it appears superfluous for the writer to coach him in his job. Be that as it may, Ghana needs an urgent substantive defense minister.

On the Christmas day of December 25, 2025, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced the US air strike in northwestern Nigeria. In his social media post, Trump stated:

“The United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

The strike involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles fired off a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea, hitting insurgents in two ISIS camps in northwest Nigeria’s Sokoto State, according to a US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The operation was done in coordination with the Nigerian military, the official said.” This strike has security implications for Ghana as the targets will be looking for a “safe haven” in the sub-region. Ghana is a country with enviable peace and stability bereft of interfaith conflicts.

Ghana needs a substantive defense minister. Ghana must avoid interfering with international conflicts. On October 6, 2025, Ghana’s foreign ministry officially supported President Trump ‘s proposed Gaza peace plan. The statement was in sharp contravention of Ghana’s foreign policy: non- alignment.

There was no need for the foreign minister to portray himself as an obsequious
lickspittle of any country. Ghana’s foreign minister and Israel were recently engulfed in an immigration misunderstanding.

Caution the foreign minister to tread cautiously, not to create enemies for the country. Reckless decisions by foreign secretaries have created age-old conflicts.

In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, made a statement (Balfour Declaration) that was destined to create a conflict between Israel and the Palestinians that has lasted over a
century.

Apart from the 100-year War between England and France (1337-1453), the Israel-
Palestinian conflict is one of the longest in history. What is the Balfour Declaration?

What is now Israel used to be part of the Ottoman Empire. On November 2, 1917, the British foreign secretary, Arthur James Balfour, made a statement of British support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

The declaration specifically stated that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Balfour was influenced by the Zionist community leaders
in London.

The British government nurtured a strategic hope that the declaration could rally Jewish opinion in the United States to the side of the Allied powers against the Central Powers during WWI
(1914-1918).

The Allied powers included France, Britain, Russia, and later the US, Italy, and
Japan, fighting the Central powers comprising Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

The Balfour Declaration was destined to actualize when the country of Israel was
created in the Palestinian land on May 14, 1948, after WWII. Israel appeared to be created out of Hitler’s egregious killing of nearly six million Jews during WWII.

Historians termed the Nazi killing of the Jews as the Holocaust. The creation of Israel has created conflict in that territory for many years.
Ghana must avoid meddling in the international tension. Countries like Canada, Australia, and Switzerland do not interfere in international conflicts.

Mr President, please, we need a defense minister urgently. There are many party loyalists not recognized yet, including the writer. The writer understands how sad it is to lose your ministers to a helicopter crash on August 6, 2025.

Have the writer’s heartfelt condolences and solicitude. The reality is that in the wake of the US strike in Northwestern Nigeria, Ghana needs defense and national security Ministers to prevent terrorists from sneaking into the country. “We can conceive the future with high rises, but humanity without music and love is not only inconceivable, but highly impossible.” ----- George
Leonard.