[2] In 1957, the Ghana Army consisted of its headquarters, support services, three battalions of infantry and a reconnaissance squadron with armoured cars.

The Ghanaian Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah, wished to rapidly expand and Africanise the army to support his Pan-African and anti-colonial ambitions.

Under pressure from Nkrumah, Paley's successor Major General Henry Alexander revised the plans, for all British personnel to depart by 1962.

[8] Nkrumah was determined fully to create all-Ghanaian armed forces, after some years of accelerated promotion of Ghanaian personnel.

Colonel James Bond, the Canadian military attaché, asked to write a report on how Canada could further assist the Ghanaian armed forces, wrote that "during 1966 the preoccupation of.. senior officers with their civilian duties as members of the National Liberation Council and as regional administrators, resulted in an unconscious neglect of the welfare of the Army".

Ghana has contributed forces to numerous UN and ECOWAS operations, including in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon and Liberia (ECOMOG and UNMIL).