The first female general in the Ghana Army, Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, is dead. She died at the 37 military hospital yesterday 24 January 2022, after a short illness.
Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu, was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, the highest position ever occupied by a female in the Armed Forces, on March 7, 2016.
General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces on 25 April 1980 as a Second Lieutenant, after eighteen months of regular training at the Ghana Military Academy.
On completion of her initial regular military training, she served as a Platoon Commander at the 2nd Battalion of Infantry in 1980 for her regimental training after which she was posted as Platoon Commander and Adjutant to the 3rd Border Guards Battalion from 1981 to 1982.
She was subsequently appointed General Staff Officer Grade 3 (Training, and Personnel Staff Officer) at the Border Guards HQ from 1983 to 1984 and as Adjutant at the Border Guards Training School, Kpetoe in 1984.
In 1995 she was appointed the Second in Command of the Ghana Armed Forces Pay Regiment and in 1999 was appointed the Commanding Officer all of which she became the first female in the Armed Forces to occupy these posts.
In 2013 she became the first woman to be appointed Deputy Military Adviser (DMILAD) at the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN, New York till 2016.
Whilst serving as DMILAD, she was promoted in March 2016 to the rank of Brigadier-General, becoming the first female to be ever promoted as a General in the Ghana Armed Forces.
She also served as the Ghana Armed Forces Representative to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu also participated in UN peacekeeping operations as the GhanaBatts (Ghana Battalion) in UNIFIL (1994 & 1998); MONUSCO (2007) and UNMIL (2009).
Credit: Red Diamond
