Ghana-Morale

Morale in the Ghanaian armed forces has been influenced by several factors. During the early post-independence period, military morale suffered because of ethnic tensions and the low esteem attached to the armed forces by the civilian sector. The politicization of the army and jealousy between officers and noncommissioned officers also lowered morale. After the military became more involved in politics, morale gradually improved. In the ranks, however, esprit de corps remained low because of poor pay and a lack of opportunities for education and promotion.

A 1979 purge of the armed forces reversed this trend. By the late 1980s, morale throughout the armed forces was generally good because service conditions and the public perception of the military had improved. Also, the PNDC had reintroduced professionalism into the army. After Ghana contributed troops to the ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia in mid-1990, however, morale declined once more, especially among enlisted personnel, who opposed what they perceived to be an open-ended commitment to a war irrelevant to Ghana. Controversy arose when some individual Ghanaian soldiers exploited their position as peacekeepers to enrich themselves by engaging in black-market activities and other questionable behavior.

Data as of November 1994