The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) are to intensify their efforts to improve their understanding and application of supply chain management thinking in their various strategic and operational areas. This commitment was made known following the donation of supply chain management reference books by the Knowledge Development Alliance to the Ghana Armed Forces.
Commenting on the donation, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, expressed his appreciation for the Knowledge Development Alliance’s initiative and encouraged all personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces to actively use the reference resource to improve their knowledge and understanding of supply chain management best practices.
“The donation of the supply chain book, ‘Executive Insights Series: Compendium of Supply Chain Management Terms’, is received with gratitude. Supply chain management impacts the day-to-day activities of all areas of government and society. The Defence Sector is no exception. Having a clear understanding of its influence on the various areas of our portfolio and the services we provide is essential to ensuring we deliver on our mandate,” he said.
“Without question, our quest to improve service delivery quality, cut wasteful expenditure, and in particular the success of the already commenced Military Industrial Complex Spearheaded Defense Industry Industries Holding Company Limited (DIHOC) project is dependent on supply chain management thinking.
“This, coupled with the fact that the Ghana Armed Forces in collaboration with the Accra Technical University is currently running a Supply Chain management Course at the Base Ordinance School, makes the donation very timely as students would be using the books as reference materials,” Vice Admiral Amoama re-emphasised.
The Knowledge Development Alliance is a first-of-its-kind human capital development partnership between the Ghana Library Authority, the National Lottery Authority, and PanAvest International and Partners. It is focused on creating national awareness of the importance of supply chain management and its link to job creation, service delivery quality, long-term industrialisation, economic growth, and development.
Commenting on the historic donation, some Generals at the General Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces were of the view that: “The donation of the Compendium of Supply Chain Management Terms provides the personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces with direct access to 1000s of terms, abbreviations, metrics, and statistics related to procurement, logistics, and other areas of supply chain management. We now have complete access to supply chain management best practices at our fingertips to enable performance and productivity improvements in the sector.”
‘The Executive Insights Series: Compendium of Supply Chain Management Terms’ remains the only all-inclusive supply chain reference guide in the world, and is the first of its kind to be independently assessed and approved by a national curriculum body, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA). The first edition was published in 2014.
CEO of the Ghana Library Authority, Hayford Siaw, noted that the Knowledge Development Alliance was proud to provide the Ghana Armed Forces and the Defence sector with a resource and tool that will add to the realisation of the country’s development and national security management agenda.
“‘The Executive Insights Series: Compendium of Supply Chain Management Terms’ provides a holistic and easily accessible reference of supply chain terminology, calculations, and data which can be used to support, military value chain management, sectorial industrialisation and broader socio-economic development initiatives,” he said.
Professor Douglas Boateng, CEO of PanAvest International and Partners and compiler of the Compendium, noted the growing need for supply chain knowledge development in the country.
“Supply chain management involves the seamless management of all interlinked value-adding activities that goods and services encounter as they move through a value-chain. A common understanding of supply chain management will undoubtedly enable the Ghana Armed Forces to achieve further sectorial industrialisation, reductions in wasteful expenditure and significant improvements in service delivery quality.
“The quantifiable gains have a direct and positive impact on long-term national security management and the realisation of Ghana’s long-term developmental agenda,” Professor Boateng affirmed.
