Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Joseph Boateng Danquah (born 7 July 1947) was the twenty-seventh Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the

Ghana Armed Forces The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the state military organisation 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 ...

Education and Military training

Joseph Boateng Danquah attended

Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary (POJOSS) (formerly St. John's Seminary and College) is a Catholic all-boys day-boarding school located in Effiduase, Koforidua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Established in 1958 by Bishop Jo ...

at Effiduase,

Koforidua Koforidua, also popularly known as K.dua or Koftown and now Kofcity, is a city and the capital of Eastern Region, Ghana, Eastern Region of Ghana. The city has a population of 183,727 people as of 2010. The city is a blend of colonial and moder ...

and had his basic military training at the Ghana Military Academy at

Teshie Teshie is a coastal town in the Ledzokuku Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of southeastern Ghana. Teshie is the ninth most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of 171,875 people. Politics Teshie is in t ...

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

. He did his junior and senior staff courses in Ghana and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

respectively.

Career

Danquah was commissioned as an infantry officer in the

Ghana army The Ghana Army is the principal land warfare force of Ghana. In 1959, two years after the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast became independent from the British Empire, the Ghana Regiment, Gold Coast Regiment was withdrawn from the Royal West ...

on 14 December 1969. He has held various positions including the commanding officer of the Third Battalion of Infantry and Four Training Battalion. He has also been director, Army Operations and assistant commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Junior Division).

Peacekeeping duties

Danquah was the commanding officer of the Second Ghana Battalion of the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (

ECOMOG The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work ...

) based in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

between October 1990 to June 1991. He has had three duty tours on

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

peacekeeping missions

UNIFIL The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, and several further resolutions in 2006 to con ...

, southern

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. He was company commander of Ghanbatt 13 on his first duty tour, from May to December 1980. Next he was the second-in-command of Ghanbatt 20, between June 1983 to January 1984. His final tour was as commanding officer of Ghanbatt 36 from September 1991 to April 1992.

Senior military duties

Between August 1999 and March 2001, he was chief staff officer at Army Headquarters. Prior to his appointment as CDS, he had been the general officer commanding the Southern Command of the Ghana army from March 2001. On 20 May 2005, Danquah then a brigadier, was promoted major general and appointed the CDS of the Ghana Armed Forces by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Kufuor. He was retired in January 2009 when

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as the 11th president of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the govern ...

came to power following the 2008 presidential elections.

Honours

*January 2001 — Awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

by Ghana government.

References

External links

Profile on Ghana Armed Forces website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danquah, Joseph Boateng 1947 births Living people Ghanaian soldiers Chiefs of the Defence Staff (Ghana) Members of the Council of State (Ghana) Ghanaian military personnel Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary alumni