President John Dramani Mahama has announced an upward adjustment in salaries for personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces, with the new pay structure set to take effect in March 2026.

He further disclosed that salary arrears for January and February 2026 would also be paid in March.

The announcement was made during the President’s address at the 2025 West African Soldiers’ Social Activity (WASA), held at the Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces at Burma Camp in Accra.

WASA is an annual social gathering for members of the security services, designed to give them respite from their demanding schedules while promoting camaraderie and mutual appreciation.

President Mahama’s declaration was greeted with thunderous applause from military personnel present at the event.

“I bring thee tidings of great joy, and it pleases me to announce that your new salary scales will start in March. I said tidings of great joy. You now understand what I mean. Your new salary scales will start in March, and the arrears for January and February will also be paid in March,” he said.

“Thank you very much. I knew you would receive that with great joy.”

Touching on retirement benefits, President Mahama recalled that in 2020, the previous administration, shortly before the general elections, introduced Constitutional Instrument 129, which extended the length of service and resulted in significant increases in retirement and gratuity payments for retiring officers.

“It will interest you to know that over the four years following the year 2020, the previous administration made no budgetary allocation to operationalize the new gratuity levels,” he said.

The President noted that this omission had led to the accumulation of arrears exceeding one billion Ghana cedis, owed to about 3,000 military personnel across different ranks.

He disclosed that he had directed the Minister of Finance to release funds to settle the outstanding arrears of the 1995 and 1996 year groups at existing rates, while steps were taken to fully clear their entitlements under C.I. 129.

President Mahama also announced plans to strengthen the internally generated funds of the Ghana Armed Forces through greater involvement in national infrastructure projects.

According to him, discussions were ongoing with the Ministry of Roads and the Ministry of Finance to enable the 48th Engineer Regiment and the Ghana Army to participate in the government’s Big Push Infrastructure Projects across the country.

“We shall allocate some of the drip equipment that was imported under the last administration to the 48th Engineer Regiment so that you can also participate in road construction and earn money for the Armed Forces,” he said.

He commended the winners of the Chief of Defence Staff Prize essay competition and expressed appreciation to the organisers, sponsors and partners whose efforts contributed to the successful staging of WASA 2025.