Major General Sampson Adeti, the former Chief of Staff at General Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) at Burma Camp, who is on leave prior to retirement, has been made the head of security for former President John Mahama’s Campaign Team.

The security coordinator of the Mahama Campaign Team is said to be moving with the former President Mahama, who is campaigning to lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 presidential election.

He was seen in Tamale during the former president’s recent visit and reports suggested he had a serious clash with a powerful member of the Mahama Campaign Team.

DAILY GUIDE‘s checks revealed that the army chief has started his leave prior to retirement but was using the period to campaign for ex-President Mahama which is against military rules.

Technically, he is still a serving officer and is reportedly still occupying his official residence at Burma Camp in Accra which makes his current occupation a breach of military standards.

He has occasionally been seen in convoy of opposition NDC which enter his residence in clear breach of military rules with blaring sirens.

General Adeti, who had been tipped to become Army Commander had John Mahama been retained, is among some senior military officers who have taken cover under the umbrella since NDC lost power.

Immediately the NDC lost the elections, the same general allegedly lobbied vigorously for an ambassadorial post, claiming that he had nothing to do with the NDC and traced his roots to Nsawam and not the Volta Region.

Attempts to reach him for comments at press time were unsuccessful.

Missing Pick-Up

This is same army officer who was cited in a car stealing scandal while serving as General Officer Commanding South Command at Teshie.

The general, who was the ‘darling boy’ of the previous NDC government, was indicted for allegedly appropriating a Nissan Hard-Body Double-Cabin vehicle donated to the Southern Command of the Ghana Army by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

The cover of the army chief in the alleged stealing was blown by a request made by Adeti’s successor, Brigadier M. Whajah, GOC, Southern Command, to the BoG for operational support.

Brigadier M. Whajah was informed that the bank donated a pickup to the command not long ago.

With no trace of the vehicle – registered GN 4240-15 – in the inventories of the Southern Command, the new officer called for more details which led to a visit to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) for the registration details and the custodian of the vehicle.

It turned out that General Adeti was keeping vehicle in his garage on the blind side of the army.

Killing the Investigation

Despite the damning report, Major General Adeti, who was then a Brigadier General, was promoted by the previous NDC administration under President Mahama – the Commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to the rank of Major General, action which succeeded in killing the investigation into the matter because the officer who did the investigations had become Adeti’s subordinate and technically a superior cannot be investigated by an officer lower in rank.

The probing officer was subsequently transferred to the Ghana Mission in the United States in order to cover up the probe.

The report found out that the Adeti had breached military standards in respect of donated items to the Ghana Armed Forces.

Despite the revelation, he continued to be in the good books of the government; the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) who commissioned the investigation Major General R.K. Opoku Adusei, was retired from the military unceremoniously.

When the general was asked to explain himself, he rather chose to attack the journalist from DAILY GUIDE who broke the story, calling him a ‘bounty hunter.’

Preliminary Report

COAS’s preliminary investigations had found Brig Gen Adeti to have dishonestly appropriated the vehicle.

“The fact that he drove the vehicle straight from the Bank of Ghana to his Juba Villas residence without informing neither HQ Southern Command nor Army HQ and using his residential number, personal phone and e-mail address to complete the transfer of ownership and changing the colour of the vehicle from white to dark grey were all indicative of his intention to usurp the vehicle,” the COAS observed in the report.

He was also criticized for deliberately leaving no traces of all correspondences and documents in respect of the said vehicle.

Disciplinary Action

The report recommended that the General suffer disciplinary action for dishonest appropriation of the said vehicle contrary to Section 52 of the Ghana Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105).

The misconduct, according to the report, constituted a breach of trust in respect of his position as a superior commander, contrary to Section 54 (a) of the Ghana Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105).

Invaluable Service

Initially he made the whole issue appear like the vehicle was given to him for his ‘invaluable’ services to the Central Bank – a claim which was immediately debunked.

Portions of the report- ‘Summary Investigations into allegations of misconduct, involving Brigadier General SK Adeti, said the stories which hit the media “generated a lot negative interest and social media comments nationwide and among troops at GAF. Some of the comments impugned the lack of integrity of Brig Gen SK Adeti and the Ghana Armed Forces hierarchy. The Military High Command was further challenged to investigate the matter and take appropriate disciplinary action should the matter published in the newspapers be found to be true.”

Unexplained Reasons

The report had found that “for unexplained reasons, all correspondences and documents pertaining to the request, approval and donation of Nissan Pickup reg no GN 4240 15 to HQ S/C have been removed or vanished from all files at HQ S/Comd and do not exist on any file or office in GAF. This case of missing documents is contrary to Section 250 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 and Section 54 (a) of the Ghana Armed Forces Act 1962 (Act 105).”

Brig Adeti, in the course of the raging controversy, handed over the vehicle to the Provost Marshal on 18th June, 2016 with the explanation that he was doing so out of his own volition.

He had earlier stated that he did not know the location of the spare key and documents covering the said pickup.

Another critical portion of the report stated, “The act or conduct of Brig Gen SK Adeti in declining to disclose or surrender the said vehicle at the time it was donated, but rather to decide to do so on 18 June, 16 after publications in the press on 10 and 14 June, 16 respectively and after the Army HQ Convening Order for a Summary Investigation on 17 June, 16; is prejudicial to good order and discipline contrary to Section 54 of the Ghana Armed Forces Act 1962 (Act 105).”