Defence Minister Goes Berserk!

The Defence Minister, a three-star General J. H. Smith (Rtd) shocked guests at the commissioning of the new Ministry of Defence building, on Wednesday 23rd December 2009 when he threatened a reporter of the Daily Searchlight.

The poor reporter (Prince Prah) who had been invited to the event by the Public Relations Directorate of the Ghana Armed Forces could not believe his eyes when the retired Army General pounced on him and threatened him intermittently.

No sooner had an official at the event introduced the reporter to General J. H. Smith than the latter fumed with anger uncontrollably and moved threateningly towards the reporter.

In a matter of seconds, as if he had already rehearsed the encounter, General Smith shouted “You, you, you”, pointing fingers in the face of the reporter, “You have been writing silly things about me; you have been calling me a liar; I had been in the Army for over 50 years and nobody ever called me a liar.”

With his Lebanese wife solidly behind him and encouraging him, General Smith continued by saying that his son was twice the age of the reporter and ‘this stupid boy is calling me a liar.’

Some of the officers around who found the encounter to be very uncomfortable, inappropriate and unfortunate tried to prevail upon General Smith to cease fire and leave the reporter alone especially when they realized the reporter had kept his composure and did not utter a single word.

Unfortunately, General Smith, with his wife still solidly behind and urging him on would not left the opportunity of revenge go.

He kept ranting until the officers called the Director of Public Relations Directorate of the Ghana Armed Forces, Col Nibo to escort the reporter out of the building for a while. General Smith in an attempt to justify his action said in Fanti to the officers that “it is this stupid boy who has been writing silly things about me with the support and assistance of Kojo Damoah.”

According to Prince, “Joe Smith and his like minds can say whatever they want; they have accused me of meeting Damoah, the former CDS, General J. B. Danquah, Col Mensah and so on and if is the reason why the Military High Command and Defence Intelligence have bagged my phone and have put men on me, they are welcomed to listen in.”

On realizing that his reprehensible conduct could become a subject of report in the newspapers, General Smith returned to the reporter again menacingly and said “I don’t care, you can go ahead and do anything you want to do in your newspaper,” Prince claimed.

The reporter is really surprised at the behaviour of General Smith.

The reporter has tried to be as fair as possible to the Minister and the Ghana Armed Forces by trying to seek their version of “the story” before any publication. However, on all occasions that the reporter got through to the Minister and/or the DPR on phone, they either “snubbed him, yell at him or declined to talk with him.”

“Armed with documentary evidence or direct evidence from sources, I would go ahead and make the relevant publications, despite the hard hitting stories, the DPR brought only two rejoinders last year and on each occasion, they confirmed the stories and took exception to why I don’t call them first,” Prince Prah said.

It was this Defence Minister who appeared before Parliament on two occasions, and was economical with the truth on sensitive issues.

For instance, on 10th February 2009, the Minister said, among other things that the training of the 420 Army Potential Recruits was suspended because it was found out that some of the persons selected could neither read nor write English; others did not go through medical examinations while some had fake driving licenses.

“Certainly, the Minister knew that he was not speaking the truth as the illegal BOI that he caused to be instituted on 6th February 2009 at a time he was not a Minister, had not commenced sitting for him to have come to those conclusions,” Prince noted.

Again, on 10th June 2009, when Gen Smith appeared before Parliament to answer questions on the fate of the 420 Army Potential Recruits, he could not tell the People’s Representatives the recruitment process and had to be bailed out by the Majority Leader and Hon. E. T. Mensah.

Another issue is the acquisition of jets for the Ghana Airforce where the Minister gave different answers from those of the CDS, Major General P.A. Blay, the Defence Security Corporation Agency (DSCA) of the USA and the document prepared by the current Chief of Air Staff.

Even in his encounter with reporter on the said day, General Smith has told lies again.

For instance, General Smith indicated that he was in the Army for over 50 years. This assertion cannot be true. General Smith was commissioned on the 16th October 1965 and released honorably like Kojo Damoah on 3rd February 2002. Therefore the maximum military service that General Smith had could be only 40 years, and not 50 years, when his training period of 2years is added.

Furthermore, the claim by General Smith that his son is twice the age of the reporter is also not true and cannot be true unless his son is above 50 years which is not possible.

General Smith who is in his mid 60s could not have given birth at the age of 16 years and even before he went to the Ghana Military Academy in 1963.

Even though it is possible for a male to impregnate a woman or a girl at the age of 16 years, which did not happen with Joe Smith. If even he was assuming that the reporter was below 25 years of age, it is not and cannot be that his son is twice the of the reporter.

“So you see, General, it is your utterances which are not based on empirical evidence that make you a liar and note the fact you are a pathological liar,” Prince stated.