SECURE POLLS * Prez urges GAF

Front Page: Daily Graphic, December 5, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
PRESIDENT J.A. Kufuor has urged members of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to maintain the high sense of professionalism and impartiality they have exhibited so far and help protect the integrity of the general election on Sunday.
“I urge you not to disappoint the good people of Ghana and the many people world-wide who hold the GAF in high esteem,” the President told the soldiers when he inaugurated the newly constructed Ministry of Defence office complex in Accra yesterday.
He said the military and the other security agencies would be expected to keep law and order and protect the security of the nation during and after the polls.
The four-storey office complex has 120 rooms and will accommodate the Ministry of Defence, the offices of the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Commander-in-Chief of the GAF, as well as other service commanders.
The conference room of the $6.75 million building was named after the Immediate Past Defence Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, during whose tenure the project, as well as many other projects funded by the Chinese Government, was initiated and completed.
President Kufuor commended the GAF for working effectively with the government to protect the sovereignty of the country during his two terms in office, saying that “by playing their mandated role, they enabled governance of the nation to proceed in accordance with the Constitution”.
He said the nation was happy that the GAF had rediscovered their raison d’être and stuck to their mandate as enshrined in the national Constitution, which had contributed to the peace, security and steady development which Ghana was enjoying.
He noted that the military, like any other public sector institution, had received its share of budgetary allocation.
“Work on the Military Hospital has continued. Today, the face of Burma Camp has changed completely from what it was in 2001. There is the Burma Hall Complex, the new accommodation complexes for both officers and men and women. All garrisons around the country are also undergoing massive facelift,” he added.
President Kufuor acknowledged Dr Addo-Kufuor who, as the Minister of Defence for almost seven years, had general oversight of those developments.
He noted that until the onset of globalisation, threats to national security took the form of civil wars, activities of adventurous soldiers and invading armies but current security threats took the form of drug trafficking, illicit dealings in arms, human trafficking, child prostitution and terrorism.
“Taking advantage of ICT, the faceless enemies work with global networks of collaborators who put all nations at risk. There are also problems arising out of natural or man-made disasters which have their own complexities,” he noted.
According to him, different types of expertise were required to deal effectively with those myriad of problems.
That, he said, called for continuing training of the military in a vast array of fields, in close collaboration with civilian expertise.
President Kufuor said it was as a result of these that the government sought to improve educational facilities within the military, resulting in soldiers obtaining masters degrees at the Military Academy, adding that opportunities for the training of soldiers in both local and overseas institutions had been enhanced to cover many disciplines and make the military versatile.
He commended the Ministry of Defence for seeking the support of its counterpart in Britain to develop an enhanced civilian performance in Ghana’s Defence Ministry.
“I would urge both the Minister of Public Sector Reforms and the Head of the Civil Service to explore the possibility of developing the capacity of more civil and public servants to provide some of the specialised services required by the military,” he appealed.
President Kufuor also challenged the country’s universities and management development institutions to develop courses in security and allied fields and help build the capacities of both military and civilian personnel in response to present and emerging challenges.
He commended the Chinese government for its support for Ghana in the past eight years, noting that China had helped Ghana in many areas, particularly infrastructural development.
President Kufuor expressed the hope that the friendship between the two countries would continue to grow to the mutual benefit of the two countries.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenzhe, described the office complex as a gift from China to Ghanaians in appreciation of the support and friendship of Ghanaians to their Chinese counterparts.
He said China would continue to support Ghana in whatever way possible to deepen the relationship between the two countries.