THE CHIEF of Defense Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Peter Augustine Blay was full of praise for soldiers of the 66
Artillery Regiment when he paid a familiarization visit to the unit at Ho on Thursday to acquaint himself with on-going projects and interact with troops. “All things put together, this is a well organized unit,†he said.
Lt General Blay commended the soldiers for fighting crime in the region in collaboration with other security forces especially the police in Operation Calm Life and others.
He was impressed that residents were happy with the high standard of professionalism exhibited by the soldiers and appealed to them to keep it up.
The soldiers, he said had done well by cultivating 50 acres of orange groves, building of a nursery block and undertaking other projects assuring them he would do his part to ensure infrastructure and other logistics are improved upon, mentioning accommodation and transportation as being on top of his priorities list.
He said recently, a team was dispatched to the Regiment to inspect the general situation in terms of infrastructure and said their recommendations will be utilized as soon as possible adding new logistics, such as aircrafts, ships and vehicles had been purchased.
Lt. Gen. Blay further urged the soldiers to let the key military values such as loyalty and duty consciousness be their guiding principle as it will keep them from evil.
Earlier, the CDS visited the Volta Regional Minister, Joseph Amenowode and his deputy who expressed their appreciation for the good work the military is doing in the region to maintain law and order.
The regional minister however complained about an abandoned military project at Akoefe in the Ho municipality. The site he said was earmarked for construction of the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre but it was later moved to Accra and since then the building has remained a white elephant.
He suggested that if the military no longer has any use for the place then they should hand it over to the region to be considered for other projects.
Mr. Amenowode also expressed worry over recruitment into the Armed forces saying there is rising concern among the people in the region who feel they are not well represented.
According to him, joining the army is the ambition of most young men in the region and appealed to the CDS for an equal recruitment quota for people of the region to help qualified youth who wish to join the service.
In response the CDS said every region is well represented as far as army recruitment is concerned. He said the army carries out an equal quota recruitment policy which ensures all ten regions are well represented and assured the minister that no region will be disadvantaged.
On the Akoefe land issue he said plans are far advanced to use it for other projects that will benefit both the military and civilians. He later visited the site to assess the situation.
From Wise Donkor, Ho