Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo, a former Ghanaian military leader who led the country’s armed forces as its Chief of Defense Staff from August 1983 to September 1989, has passed away.
On December 2, 2024, Monday, he passed away at the 37 Military Hospital.
The late Flight Lieutenant J. J. Rawlings, who served as head of state from 1982 to January 6, 1993, and then as president of Ghana from January 7, 1993, to January 6, 2001, was succeeded by Lt. Gen. Arnold Quainoo.
Lieutenant General Winston Mensa-Wood received the handover from Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo.
He was the first commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which intervened in Liberia to aid in the end of the civil war. He is also known as the “Buffalo Soldier.”
Additionally, he held the position of Army Commander twice. The first time was in 1979, after the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) deposed the Supreme Military Council (SMC) in a coup.
When the Limann government was elected in 1979, he was replaced.
However, the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) reinstated him as Chief of Army Staff after the coup, and he later became the General Officer Commanding the Ghana Armed Forces.
As commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which intervened in Liberia to assist end the civil war, Lt Gen Quainoo (rtd) denied any culpability for the killing of Liberian President Samuel Doe in 2014.
