Accra, Feb. 4, GNA - The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Wednesday stated that the "President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is entitled to a mandatory full Guard of Honour of 96 all ranks with National Colours present and a Band in attendance.

"We, therefore, see no embarrassment and humiliation to the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate or State Protocol Department as far as the Commissioning Ceremony at 37 Military Hospital is concerned. "The right thing was done and done professionally and exceptionally well."

This was contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Directorate of GAF and signed by Lieutenant Colonel Yao Dzotefe-Mensah in reaction to a publication in an Accra Tri-weekly that sought to create "an erroneous impression in the minds of the public" that President John Agyekum Kufuor, Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, ought to have returned to inspect a Quarter Guard formed by a small military detachment deployed for the commissioning of the 37 Military Hospital Outpatient Complex.

The statement said: "Quarter Guard is never held for the President and the Commander-in-Chief when he is visiting any military installation. Additionally no Colours and band are present at a quarter guard. It is, therefore, important to note that the President and Commander- in-Chief never inspects a quarter guard."

The statement pointed out that a "Guard of honour is not inspected at the end of such a ceremony. In this particular instance, the President and Commander -in - Chief was given the necessary compliments by the rendition of the national anthem at the end of the ceremony.

"There was no requirement to inspect the Guard of Honour again. It would be recalled that the President had earlier on inspected the Guard of honour at the start of the commissioning ceremony in line with military protocol and tradition.

The GAF said it was publishing the facts to correct the untruth and misinformation created in the minds of the public by the newspaper.