GAF will safeguard nation's gains-CDS

Lt. General Blay

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lt.-General Peter Augustine Blay, has re-iterated the commitment of the Ghana Armed Forces to play their professional roles as mandated by the Constitution.

That, he said, was the only means to safeguard the giant strides the country had made over the past years politically, socially, economically and diplomatically.

“The signs are very assuring and we all owe it a duty to ensure the preservation of these achievements and eschew any tendency that will reverse the gains,” he said last Friday at the end of a six-day military exercise codenamed Exercise Tigers Path 2011, at the Jungle Warfare School at Akim-Achiase in the Eastern Region.

The exercise, held every two years, was to test preparedness of the Armed Forces to discharge detailed planning, execution, command and control of long range patrols in offensive and defensive operations in internal and counterinsurgency settings.

It was also to test the navigational craft of the forces, their endurance, marksmanship, watermanship and emergency medical delivery skills of a platoon size force on a semi-independent operation as well as heighten awareness of the civil population on their crucial role to provide accurate information to the security agencies on movements of suspicious people.

The CDS said that violent developments in parts of Africa and elsewhere in the recent past, showed that no country was totally immune to the vagaries of violence and economic destabilization.

“That is why we are calling on the media and the civil society to partner the security services to bring such threats to a quick and decisive end to restore law, order, peace and security.” he explained.

Lt. Gen. Blay said this year's exercise fell into the broad framework of security arrangement for the country's oil find and the 2012 general elections, adding, that is why the other security services such as Customs, Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service, and the Police were invited as observers in order to build their capacity towards joint operations.”

He commended the teams for their competitive spirit and urged them to extend it beyond the service.

Lt.-Gen. Blay expressed the Armed Forces' gratitude to Cal Bank and UT Bank for donating GH¢10,000 and GH¢48,000 respectively towards the exercise.

He also commended the chiefs and people of Achiase, and urged them to build on the good relationship with the Jungle Warfare School.

The Southern Command emerged the overall best team followed by the Northern Command with Support Services Brigade Group placing third, Air Force and Navy placed fourth and fifth respectively.

The leader of the Southern Command, Captain Dominic Buah, was adjudged the best platoon leader for 2011.