The CNS

Rear Admiral Godwin Livinus Bessing enrolled in the Ghana Military Academy in January 1991 to pursue a career in the military as a Naval Cadet. He was commissioned into the Ghana Navy Executive Branch as a Sub-Lieutenant on 14 August 1992 as a member of Regular Career Course 32. He proceeded to India for the Basic Sub-Lieutenant Technical Course from September 1993 to March 1995. On return home, he was posted to the fleet as a Watching Keeping Officer until 1999 when he was appointed Executive Officer (2I/C) of Ghana Navy Ship SEBO. He later captained the same ship from 2004 to 2006.

In the course of his career, Rear Admiral Bessing held a number of staff and command appointments in both national and international settings. Between 1992-1993 and 1995 -1998, he served intermittently onboard various Ghana Navy ships as part of the Maritime Task Force of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia and Sierra Leone. His staff and command roles include Assistant Director Naval Administration between 2000 and 2001; Liaison Officer with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from March 2001 to April 2002; Military Observer (MILOB) with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) between 2003 and 2004; Commanding Officer, Basic Leadership and Training School at the Eastern Naval Command, Tema from 2006 to 2007; Member of Directing Staff (DS), Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) in 2007 and between 2009-2010; Military Observer, United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) as Team Leader and Deputy Force Training Officer from 2008 to 2009. Admiral Bessing also served as a member of the Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command & Staff College, Jaji-Kaduna in Nigeria from 2010 to 2012.

On his return home, he was posted to the Ghana Armed Forces General Headquarters from 2012-2013 as Assistant Chief of Staff, Personnel & Administration where he served for one year and proceeded to the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College as Chief Instructor, Naval Faculty from 2013-2014. He was seconded to the United Nations Headquarters in New York as a Maritime Planning Officer from 11 July 2014 to 11 July 2016. On return home, he was posted to the Naval Headquarters as Director Naval Administration in August 2016 until 1 August 2017 when he was appointed Director Naval Operations. On return from the Naval Command Course at the Naval War College in Newport USA, he was appointed Chief Staff Officer at the Naval Headquarters from August 2019 to March 2022. Whilst in this appointment, he was the Ministry of Defence representative on the Governing Board of the Fisheries Commission under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development. ...Read More



Admiral Bessing has also done other military staff and career courses including the Junior Staff Course in Nigeria in 1997; Senior Staff Course at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College from 2002 to 2003; International Principal Warfare Officers Course, HMS Collingwood, UK from 25 April to 5 August 2005; Comparative Naval Staff Course, Newport, Rhode Island, USA from January to June 2006. He is a graduate of the Naval Command Course at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, USA from July 2018 to June 2019.

The Admiral is a graduate of the University of Ghana with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics and Statistics on 6 Nov 1989; the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where he earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Administration on 4 Jan 2005. He also holds a Master of Arts Degree in International Affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), University of Ghana on 31 Dec 2014.

Rear Admiral Godwin Bessing was the Flag Officer Commanding, Naval Training Command at Nutekpor-Sogakope in the Volta Region until his appointment as the Defence Adviser at the Ghana High Commission, Defence Section, Abuja, Nigeria. He has held this appointment since 18 December 2023 until his current appointment as the Chief of the Naval Staff.

The Admiral was knighted as a Sir Knight in the Order of the Knights of Saint John fraternity in the Catholic Church on 15 January 2022, followed by his exemplification into the Noble Temple as Noble Brother of the 5th Degree, the highest in the Order on 6 May 2023.

Rear Admiral Godwin Livinus Bessing is a Section Chief of Guo-Kussepelle in the Nandom paramountcy having been enskinned under the Skin name Naa Mwinzuing the First on 8 January 2022. He is married with 3 children. He plays table tennis and in his spare time, loves to swim, work-out in the gym or walk his dogs. His hobbies are driving and sight-seeing.