The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), have been urged to incorporate the leadership of the late Lieutenant General Arnold K. Quainoo into their training curricula to educate future generations of soldiers on managing military crises effectively.
Major-General (Rtd) Henry Anyidoho, the former Deputy Force Commander and Chief of Staff for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) made the call during a burial mass at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church, Burma Camp, on Friday, February 7, 2025.
He emphasized that General Quainoo’s leadership during turbulent times in Ghana’s history, especially during the Revolution of the Late President Jerry John Rawlings, demonstrated a model of command that must be studied and understood by military personnel.
“General Quainoo was not a ceremonial officer but a field officer who could be relied upon,” Major-General Anyidoho stated.
“All honest officers and men who served during those turbulent times will agree that had he and the late Forces Sergeant-Major Isaac Frimpong (RED LIGHT) not held the base very firmly, our Armed Forces would have disintegrated.”
“My humble advice is that the late Lieutenant General Quainoo should be studied in our Military Institutions during Leadership Series to enable future generations learn one way of handling an emergency situation when an organization revolts against itself”, Major-General Anyidoho said in his tribute.
Reflecting on General Quainoo’s contributions, Major-General Anyidoho, recounted the late officer’s critical role during the tumultuous periods of Ghana’s military history, including the coups d’état of June 4, 1979, and December 31, 1981.
“To say the least, the situation was frightening and destabilizing to professional soldiers,” he recalled.
“The early morning announcement from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) on June 4, 1979, created a sharp division between senior officers and the rest of the Armed Forces. Those of us who were Majors and above were automatically considered as adversaries of the revolution.”
According to him, despite being a victim of the June 4 revolution due to his senior rank, General Quainoo, nicknamed “The Buffalo Soldier,” “Gbogbo”, among others, took decisive steps during the December 31, 1981, coup to restore discipline and order within Ghana’s military.
“He instituted emergency regulations to ensure that all ranks performed their duties responsibly, despite the challenges,” Major-General Anyidoho added. “His courage and instant decisions weighed heavier than whatever criticisms he may have faced.”
General Quainoo also prioritized military training despite logistical constraints. He spearheaded joint training exercises, such as “Bold Union” and “Team Work,” with Burkinabe troops, using municipal buses and ferry transport to facilitate realistic drills.
“Those exercises significantly strengthened the military ties between Ghana and Burkina Faso,” Major-General Anyidoho noted. “General Quainoo believed that training was the cornerstone of a professional armed force.”
Given his invaluable contributions, Major-General Anyidoho stressed that studying General Quainoo’s leadership at military institutions would provide invaluable lessons on crisis management and maintaining discipline in challenging times.
“My humble advice is that the late Lieutenant General Quainoo should be studied in our military institutions during Leadership Series to enable future generations to learn one way of handling an emergency situation when an organization revolts against itself,” he concluded.
General Quainoo, a former General Officer Commanding the Ghana Armed Forces, passed away on December 2, 2024, at the age of 85.
Numerous serving and retired military and government officials attended his funeral, highlighting the lasting impact of his service to the nation.
President John Dramani Mahama, who was also present, described the late Lt Gen. Quainoo as a man whose life was an expression of patriotism and profound love for his country.
Mahama noted that Quainoo’s life inspires a rekindling of patriotism.
“His life was really an inspiration that we can recapture the love of country and patriotism. People like him joined the army because they loved their profession. That was the sole reason they joined the army,” he said.
Mahama reflected on Quainoo’s role in leading Ghana’s contingent to Liberia during the early days of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) intervention.
He described the Liberian Civil War as extremely dangerous, stressing that it was different from modern peacekeeping missions, where troops were deployed under more controlled conditions.
“The Liberian Civil War was a very, very dangerous war. The Heads of State met as ECOWAS and decided that an intervention force had to be sent. It was not like the peacekeeping forces of today, where people go and return safely. This was a dangerous war, and Ghana’s contingent was the first to enter Liberia. General Quainoo was given the distinguished mandate to lead the contingent. We were all afraid for our forces, but they made Ghana proud. They went into Liberia, created a bridgehead for the rest of the ECOMOG force to follow, and several of them sacrificed their lives in the process. Some did not return,” he stated.
The president acknowledged that Liberia today owes its stability, in part, to the sacrifices of those brave men General Quainoo led on the instructions of ECOMOG.
Recalling his last meeting with Quainoo, Mahama, said it was during a visit to elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the election campaign last year.
“We went to his house. He was quite well. We sat outside, and he regaled us with stories from the past. Today, we are not here to mourn but to celebrate his life and take inspiration from the values he lived by. He will continue to guide us, urging us to be patriotic, to love our nation, and to be selfless in service to our fellow Ghanaians,” he added.
Lt. Gen. Arnold Quainoo, popularly known as ‘The Buffalo Soldier,’ was one of Ghana’s most distinguished military officers.
He served twice as Army Commander, first in 1979 following the coup by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which overthrew the Supreme Military Council.
When Ghana returned to constitutional rule in 1981 under Dr. Hilla Limann, he was replaced, but after the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) came to power, he was reappointed Chief of Army Staff.
He later succeeded Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings as Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), serving as Ghana’s 22nd CDS from August 25, 1983, to September 22, 1989. He helped stabilize the military during a politically turbulent period.
On the international front, in 1990, he was appointed the first commander of ECOMOG, leading the intervention force in Liberia.
He was also known for his firm stance on military discipline, abolishing extravagant initiation and wetting ceremonies in military messes and replacing them with the reaffirmation ceremony.