Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), was born in Ezinlibo, in the Western Region of Ghana in November 1948. In academic education, he is basically a self-made man. After his elementary education, from 1965 -1969 he attended the Accra Workers College where he obtained his General Certificate of Education.
He subsequently entered the Ghana Military Academy for his basic military training continuing to the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, United Kingdom, and commissioned into the Ghana Army in October 1971 as an Infantry Officer.
He has to his credit a certificate of attendance in Management Studies obtained from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and through correspondence studies, a certificate of International Management from Washington International University and a BSc Administration from Almeida College, USA.
During the course of his military career, spanning the last 38 years, he has attended all courses relevant to his career, among them the Young Officers and Commando at the Belgaum Infantry School in Karnataka, India (August-December 1976), Company Commanders at the Military Academy and Training Schools (MATS) in Accra (1980), Junior Staff at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) in Accra (1983), Senior Staff at GAFCSC (1984-85) and Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, United States of America (1999-2000). He has also had training in negotiation techniques at Kampon Cham, in Cambodia organized by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNT AC) and training for military and civilian police trainers in peacekeeping and human rights in Italy (May-June 1996). He also attended a course for consultation experts in human rights for members of armed forces in Geneva as well as a peacekeeping training course organized by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) in Accra (1997).
During the period, he has held various responsible positions (both at command and staff levels). At home, he has served in 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 Infantry Battalions, Jungle Warfare School, former Headquarters I Infantry Brigade Group, Army Combat Training School, Gp’ana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Army Headquarters• and General Headquarters.
Among the appointments he has held are Aide-de-Camp to the Border Guard/Army Commander in 1974-1976, Staff Captain Administration at HQ 1 Infantry Brigade Group (1979), Company Commander at 6 Battalion of Infantry (1980-82), Chief Tactical Officer at the School of Infantry (now Army Combat Training School) (1985-86), and Assistant Director Military Training at Force Headquarters (now General Headquarters) from 1986-87. Others are Second in Command and Rear Commander at First Battalion of Infantry (1988), Commanding Officer Jungle Warfare School (1990-92) after acting for nearly nine months, Directing Staff at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College Senior Division (1993¬96), Chief Instructor and later Commanding Officer of the Army Combat Training School (1996-1998) and Director Army Training and Acting Chief Staff Officer both at the Army Headquarters (1998-1999).
He was also Director International Peace Support Operations (1989), Director Research and Development at the Department of Plans and Development, (2000), Director General Personnel Administration (2002-2005) and Acting Chief of Staff (2005-2006), all at the General Headquarters of the Ghana Armed Forces.
From November 2000-May 2002 he served as Africa’s Senior Military Representative to the Military Coordination Commission for the United Nations Missions in Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as Head of the African Union Liaison Mission also in Ethiopia and Eritrea. From 2006-2009 he was the Defence Advisor at the Ghana High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria, the last appointment he held prior to assuming duty as Chief of the Defence Staff on 31 March 2009.
Lieutenant General Blay has also had experience in several peacekeeping missions. Earlier in his career he served as Defence Platoon Commander and Operations Officer of the Ghana Battalion in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) (1979-1980), Staff Officer Information at UNIFIL HQ (1982-1983), Personal Staff Officer to the Chief of Staff at UNIFIL HQ (1987-1988) and Military Observer at the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia, from 1992-93.
General Blay is married and has two children. His hobbies include jogging, gardening and playing table tennis.