The days when defence and security issues were the preserve of the military, the police and a few other related institutions, are long gone, thus such duties now belong to the entire society, since there is a mutual wish to live and develop in peaceful, secure and stable conditions, the Commandant of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) – Rear Admiral (R/Adr) Moses Beick-Baffour, has stated.
R/Adr Beick-Baffour made the comments in his address as the Guest-of-Honour at the opening ceremony of a 12-Day Defence Management Course, at GAFCSC, at Teshie Ridge, in Accra, which started on Monday, 24th June 2019, at the Ankrah Hall of the Military College.
Forty Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) officers of the Regular Staff Course, as well as 27 military officers from 13 sister African countries such as Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia, together with personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Immigration, Customs of the Ghana Revenue Authority and many other government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), are partaking in the study.
The two-week study is intended at enabling civil servants, military officers, and other security service personnel appreciate each other’s complementary roles, the legitimate roles of others within the security and defence sectors, influencing professional security training and enhancing the capacity to carry out various responsibilities in accordance with the rule of law, transparency and accountability to the governed.
R/Adr Beick-Baffour stated that the globalized world is such that security and defence matters now demand comprehensive and multidimensional approaches to the prevention or resolution of crises and conflicts, as the nature of the threats makes it difficult to clearly delineate political or operational boundaries, or to draw battle lines, whiles the actors involved operate across international and interagency jurisdictions.
“Under these circumstances, the importance of understanding the roles various ministries, departments and agencies play in the defence of your nation, the security of our sub-region, and the continent as a whole, must continue to occupy your attention, and beyond this, you must seek ways to enhance collaboration”, R/Adr
R/Adr Beick-Baffour urged the participants to take advantage to network and share experiences amongst themselves, be open-minded in their study so as to proffer solutions based on an empirical study of the policy frameworks they will be exposed to in the days ahead.
The overall aim of the course is to develop participants’ understanding of the fundamentals of Defence Policy formulation and the mechanics of how this is translated into effective Defence Management – which is multi-dimensional and multi-social in nature and hinges on the collaboration of various agencies from both the public and private sectors.
The course has been supported over the years by the United Kingdom (UK) government, which also sponsors many modules of the Military College and the Cranfield University, which has two resource persons for the course in the persons of Professor Laura Cleairy and Dr Zaidi.
Other dignitaries at the ceremony included the Deputy Commandant of GAFCSC – Brigadier General Boimah and the Dean of Academic Affairs – Dr Vladmir Antwi-Danso.
Source: Daily Mail GH|Kofi Ampeah-Woode, Kpeshie-Ridge
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