A security analyst, Retired Colonel Festus Aboagye, has opined that the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah, should have refrained from responding to speculations about his alleged rejection of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) appointment.
Addressing soldiers at Burma Camp on Monday, January 15, Major General Oppong-Peprah dismissed the growing speculations about his alleged rejection of the CDS appointment as “unfounded.” He also expressed concern over the “unwarranted attacks” directed at him.
“The name Oppong-Preprah is causing unease and fear among people. I don’t understand why, and so I have been attacked, and they continue to attack me. Even this morning just before I arrived here, a publication was sent to me indicating that I have refused to accept the appointment of CDS, and as a result, there is a halt in the military shake-up.”
Major General Oppong-Peprah emphasized his resilience and defiance in the face of these accusations: “I have been taken to juju people and all that. We have pictures of it. In fact, it was one of the military police officers who brought me the pictures. But I am still standing here; I am not dead, and I will not die. If you can’t cope with what I do, just sit down and keep quiet. That is all.”
In an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Retired Colonel Aboagye said the Major General didn’t have to respond and that Oppong-Peprah had not done himself any favors by responding to such claims.
In his view, he wished the Major General had remained silent on the matter.
“My personal opinion is that given that whatever was written in the media was about him, he has an emotional attachment to the statement and therefore maybe advisedly he should not have responded. He should have allowed the system, the institution, and I think in this case, the Public Relations Department of General Headquarters to have responded.”
“…I think, and I stand to be corrected in all humility, that he should not have responded in person. And I don’t see how much good he has done to the story by responding himself…He should be conciliatory in tone rather than pointing fingers and then causing further cleavages, which will not serve him well when or if he becomes the CDS,” he stated.
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