7.3 Current Affairs & National Leadership Checkpoints (2025–2026)
Key Takeaways
As of October 2026, John Dramani Mahama is President, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is Vice-President and Alban Bagbin is Speaker of Parliament.
Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie was sworn in as Chief Justice of Ghana on 17 November 2025.
Kenneth Gilbert Adjei took over as Minister for Defence in August 2026, a year after Dr Edward Omane Boamah died in a helicopter crash.
Lieutenant General William Agyapong is Chief of the Defence Staff, and Major General Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu is Chief of the Army Staff.
Ghanaian contingents serve with UNIFIL, UNMISS, UNISFA and ECOMIG; UNIFIL's final mandate ends on 31 December 2026.
7.3 Current Affairs & National Leadership Checkpoints (2025–2026)
GAF reported that the November 2025 recruit aptitude test "assessed candidates on General Knowledge". General-knowledge papers in Ghana routinely ask who holds key offices and what has happened recently in the country, the Armed Forces and West Africa. Current affairs is also the area where printed "past questions" go stale fastest, so this section gives you dated, sourced checkpoints and a method for keeping them up to date.
Important
The facts below were checked against official sources in October 2026. Office-holders change. In the week before your test, confirm each name on an official website such as the Presidency, Parliament, the Judicial Service, the Ministry of Defence or the GAF news pages.
Who Holds Key Offices (as of October 2026)
| Office | Holder | Useful detail |
|---|---|---|
| President and Commander-in-Chief | John Dramani Mahama | Sworn in on 7 January 2025 for his second, non-consecutive term |
| Vice-President | Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang | Ghana's first female Vice-President |
| Speaker of Parliament | Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin | Presides over the Ninth Parliament (275 seats) |
| Chief Justice | Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie | Sworn in on 17 November 2025 after Parliament approved him on 13 November 2025 |
| Minister for Defence | Kenneth Gilbert Adjei | Took over the ministry in August 2026; previously Minister for Works, Housing and Water Resources |
| Chief of the Defence Staff | Lieutenant General William Agyapong | The most senior serving officer of the GAF |
| Chief of the Army Staff | Major General Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu | Heads the Ghana Army |
How the offices connect
Remember the constitutional links from Chapters 6 and 7: the President appoints the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Service Chiefs in consultation with the Council of State (Article 212), and the Chief Justice is appointed by the President in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament (Article 144(1)). Questions often pair a name with the wrong office, so learn the office and the holder together.
Major Events Recruits Should Know
| Date | Event | Why it matters for the test |
|---|---|---|
| January 2025 | Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), left ECOWAS | Ghana's northern neighbour Burkina Faso is no longer an ECOWAS member |
| 22 April 2025 | Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie became Acting Chief Justice after Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo was suspended; she was later removed | Explains why the Chief Justice changed in 2025 |
| 6 August 2025 | A Ghana Air Force helicopter crashed in the Adansi area of the Ashanti Region, killing eight people, including Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Dr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed | Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson acted as Defence Minister until August 2026 |
| 12 November 2025 | Six applicants died in a crowd surge at El-Wak Sports Stadium before recruitment screening began | The exercise resumed on 20 November 2025 with applicants called by official message |
| 29 November 2025 | Recruit applicants wrote the aptitude test at centres nationwide | The test followed documentation and body selection |
| 23 February 2026 | Kotoka International Airport took back the name Accra International Airport | It had been named Kotoka International Airport since 1969 |
| 31 December 2026 | The final mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ends under UN Security Council Resolution 2790 (2025) | Ghana has long contributed a battalion to UNIFIL; a withdrawal is due to follow within a year |
Ghana's Current Peace Support Deployments
Ghana Army news pages from September and October 2026 report these contingents:
| Mission | Where | Ghanaian contingent named in 2026 reports |
|---|---|---|
| UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) | Southern Lebanon | GHANBATT 93 |
| UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan) | Battalion headquarters at Bentiu, Unity State | GHANBATT 13 |
| UNISFA (UN Interim Security Force for Abyei) | Abyei area between Sudan and South Sudan | GHANBATT 5 and the medical unit GHANMED 5 |
| ECOMIG (ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia) | The Gambia | GHANCOY 10 |
The number after GHANBATT is the rotation number: GHANBATT 93 means the ninety-third Ghanaian battalion rotation to that mission. This is a handy clue when a question asks which mission Ghana has served in longest.
Regional and Continental Facts
- Ghana has 16 regions; the six newest were created in February 2019 after the December 2018 referendum.
- Parliament has 275 constituencies, each electing one Member of Parliament.
- Accra hosts the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- Ghana is a founding member of ECOWAS (1975) and a member of the African Union and the Commonwealth.
A Method for Keeping Up to Date
- Make a "who's who" card. Write each office and its holder on one side of a card and test yourself daily. Add the date you last checked each name.
- Follow official sources. The GAF news pages (
gafonline.mil.gh), the Ghana Army website, the Ministry of Defence and the national broadcaster report appointments and deployments first. - Note dates and numbers. Questions often turn on a date (when an event happened) or a number (how many regions, how many seats).
- Separate "now" from "then". Exam distractors often include a former office-holder or an old name, such as the previous airport name or the acting minister. Ask yourself whether each option is still current.
- Review weekly. Spend ten minutes each week checking whether anything on your card has changed.
Common Traps
| Trap | Example | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| Acting versus substantive office | Choosing Cassiel Ato Forson as Defence Minister in October 2026 | He acted only until Kenneth Gilbert Adjei took office in August 2026 |
| Old names | Choosing "Kotoka International Airport" for a 2026 question | The name was changed back on 23 February 2026 |
| Old membership lists | Listing Burkina Faso as an ECOWAS member | The AES states left in January 2025 |
| Confusing similar offices | Treating the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Minister for Defence as the same person | The CDS is a serving officer; the Minister is a civilian politician |
Who took office as Ghana's substantive Minister for Defence in August 2026?
Kenneth Gilbert Adjei
Cassiel Ato Forson
Edward Omane Boamah
Alban Bagbin
In February 2026, which name was restored to the international airport in Accra?
Kotoka International Airport
Kwame Nkrumah International Airport
Accra International Airport
Tema International Airport
Under UN Security Council Resolution 2790 (2025), when does the final mandate of UNIFIL, the UN force in Lebanon where Ghana has long deployed a battalion, end?
30 June 2026
31 December 2026
31 December 2027
31 August 2025
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