Minister for Defence (Ghana)

The Minister for Defence is the Ghanaian government official responsible for the Ministry of Defence of Ghana and the Ghana Armed Forces. The Minister for Defence since January 2025 is the Edward Omane Boamah. He was appointed by President John Mahama at the start of his second stint as President of Ghana.

List of ministers

The ministry has had a succession of ministers since independence starting with the Governor - General. During the rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, there was no specific minister as the council as a body was responsible for Defence.

During the years of military rule, the official in charge of the Ministry of Defence was often the Head of state. Thus, Lt General J. A..Ankrah, Lt. General A. A. Afrifa were in charge of the Ministry during the National Liberation Council era between 1966 and 1969. Between 1972 and 1979, General I. K. Acheampong and Lt. General F. W. K. Akuffo took charge of the Ministry under the National Redemption Council and the Supreme Military Council. The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) under Flt. Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings was the first military government not to have the Head of state head the ministry. The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) military government appointed civilian ministers to head the ministry.

Mahama Iddrisu has served longest in this office. He was the Minister of Defence for the last seven years of the military rule of the PNDC from 1985 to January 1993. He then continued as the first Minister to be appointed in the NDC government of the Fourth republic by Jerry Rawlings from January 1993 to February 1999, an additional six years making a total of fourteen years.

Number	Minister	Took office	Left office	Government	Party
1	Charles Noble Arden-Clarke	1957	1958	Nkrumah government	Governor-General
2	Rev Stephen Allen Dzirasa (MP)	1958	1959		Convention People's Party
3	Kwame Nkrumah (MP)	1959	1960
4	Charles de Graft Dickson (MP)	1960	1961
5	Kofi Baako (MP)	Sep 1961	24 Feb 1966
6	Lt. General J. A. Ankrah	1966	1968	National Liberation Council	Military government
7	Lt. General Akwasi Afrifa	1968	1969
8	J. Kwesi Lamptey (MP)	1969	1971	Busia government	Progress Party
9	Bukari K. Adama (MP)	27 Jan 1971	12 Jan 1972
10	General I. K. Acheampong	Jan 1972	9 Oct 1975	National Redemption Council	Military government
		9 Oct 1975	5 Jul 1978	Supreme Military Council
11	Lt. General Fred Akuffo	5 Jul 1978	4 Jun 1979
12		1979	1979	Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
13	S. K. Riley-Poku	1979	31 Dec 1981	Limann government	People's National Party
14	Naa Polku Konkuu Chiiri	1982	Nov 1983	Provisional National Defence Council	Military government
15	Rear Admiral C. K. Dzang	22 Nov 1983	1985
16	Mahama Iddrisu	1985	6 Jan 1993
		7 Jan 1993	Feb 1999	Rawlings government	National Democratic Congress
17	Lt. Col. E. K. T. Donkoh	Feb 1999	6 Jan 2001
18	Kwame Addo-Kufuor (MP)	7 Jan 2001	6 Aug 2007	Kufuor government	New Patriotic Party
19	Albert Kan-Dapaah (MP)	6 Aug 2007	6 Jan 2009
20	Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith	6 Jan 2009	24 Jul 2012	Mills government	National Democratic Congress
		24 Jul 2012	18 Feb 2013	Mahama government
21	Mark Owen Woyongo (MP)	14 Feb 2013	16 July 2014
22	Benjamin Kumbuor (MP)	16 Jul 2014	Feb 2017
23	Dominic Nitiwul (MP)	Feb 2017	6 January 2025	Akufo-Addo government	New Patriotic Party
24	Edward Omane Boamah	30 January 2025	Incumbent	Mahama 2nd government	National Democratic Congress

See also

• Ministry of Defence (Ghana)

External links

• Minister for Defence, Official Ghana Government website