Lieutenant General Ben Akafia (born 20 December 1940) is a retired Ghanaian military officer and served as the Chief of Defence Staff of the

Ghana Armed Forces The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is the president of Ghana, who is also the supreme military commander ...

from October 1996 to February 2001. He took over from Air Marshal Achilles Harry Kwami Dumashie and handed over to Lieutenant General Seth Kofi Obeng. He was appointed in 2001 as Ghana's Ambassador to Egypt. He was awarded the National Honour of Member of the

Order of the Star of Ghana The Order of the Star of Ghana is the highest award given by the Government of Ghana to any individual who had helped the cause of the country in one way or the other. Recipients of this award are decorated at a state function, chaired by the Pr ...

(MSG) by the President of Ghana on 6 January 2001. He has five sons and a daughter.

Education and training

He was educated at

Keta Secondary School Keta Senior High Technical School (Ketasco) formerly ''Keta Secondary School'' is a mixed Public Senior High School located at Dzelukope a town in the Keta Municipal District of the Volta Region, Ghana. The school has a student population of abou ...

. In 1961 he was enlisted into the

Ghana Military Academy The Ghana Military Academy is the military academy of the Ghana Armed Forces. It offers basic military training to officer cadets from the Ghana Army, Ghana Navy and the Ghana Air Force. The academy is based in Teshie Teshie is a coastal tow ...

, Teshie and was selected for further cadet training at the Indian Military Academy,

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

, India. He also obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in War Studies from the National War College in Delhi, India. He also holds a Certificate in Management and is a member of the British Institute of Management.

Career

General Akafia was commissioned into the Ghana Army on 14 September 1963 as an officer. During his 38-year career, he served in various command and staff positions. Between 1963 and 1982, he served in various major command positions including Platoon Commander, through Adjunct, to Company Commander and ended up as a Battalion Commander. He also served in various military training institutions. First, as the Commandant of the Military Academy and Training School from 1983 to 1985. He was the Chief Instructor and Second-in-Command, and later Commanding Officer of the Jungle Warfare School between 1975 and 1977. He served as a Directing staff at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College. His Senior Staff appointments at the General Headquarters include: Director-General (Personnel Administration, Director-General (Logistics), Director (Military Operations), Director-General (Joint Operations and Plans) and finally the Chief of Staff, General Headquarters. Outside of Ghana, he served as the Deputy Defence Adviser to the Ghana High Commission in Pakistan from 1977 to 1979. He was appointed Army Commander in 1990 and served in that capacity for six years. He was subsequently appointed as the Chief of the Defence Staff (Ghana) (CDS) of the

in 1996. He retired honourably from the Ghana Armed Forces on 22 March 2001 and was appointed as Ghana's Ambassador to Egypt thereafter.

Peacekeeping missions

From 1985 to 1987, Ben Akafia served as the principal staff officer at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Post military career

President John Kufuor appointed Ben Akafia as Ghana's Ambassador to Egypt in March 2001.

Honours

On 6 January 2001, Ben Akafia was awarded the National Honour of Member of the

(MSG) by the President of Ghana.

References

External links and sources

Profile on Ghana Armed Forces website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akafia, Ben 1940 births Living people Chiefs of the Defence Staff (Ghana) Ghanaian soldiers Recipients of the Order of the Star of Ghana Chiefs of Army Staff (Ghana) Ghanaian expatriates in India