Accra, Jan. 25, GNA – First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo has expressed sadness over the passing of Brigadier General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeanu-Afenu, the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in Ghana.
She is reported to have died at the 37 military Hospital on Monday, January 24, 2022, after a short illness.
“Hers was a life of resilience and breaking barriers, a shinning example of what women can do.
“May her soul Rest In Peace,” the First Lady said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Brigadier-General Constance Emefa Edjeani-Afenu was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on 25 April 1980. Her appointment in 1999 as the Commanding Officer of the Forces Pay Regiment, made her the first female Commanding Officer in the history of the Ghana Armed Forces.
In 2019, the UN appointed her as the Deputy Force Commander in MINURSO
Almost four decades after entering the army, she made history when she rose through the ranks to become the first female Brigadier-General of the Armed Forces on March 7, 2016.
Her appointment was ratified in March 2017 when the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Major – General Obed Boamah Akwa, conferred the rank on her.
After serving in different capacities in her home country, she also served as Ghana’s deputy military advisor to its permanent mission in New York since 2013.
Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu also participated in UN peacekeeping operations as the GhanaBatts (Ghana Battalion) in UNIFIL (1994 & 1998); MONUSCO in 2007 and UNMIL in 2009.
GNA