Ghana Armed Forces organise open day (Inside page) March 10

Story: Michael Donkor
THE Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) have organised an open day for the general public including schoolchildren where they were conducted round some military installations at all the garrisons across the country.
The open day, which is the eighth in the series since the former Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, mooted the idea, was to bridge the gap between the civil population and the military.
The programme is designed to create a platform to help the citizenry understand the life of the soldier, how he is resourced and the challenges he and the forces face.
In Accra, at about 8.30 a.m. students and pupils, some of whom were accompanied by their teachers, and parents converged on the El Wak Sports Stadium where the ceremony kick-started.
The children and the students were taken on a tour to the Air Force Base, Gondar Barracks, the Military Academy and Training School and Arakan Barracks. At each location, they were briefed on the operations of the unit and in some cases made to have a feel of it.
For instance, at the Air Force Station some of them were flown around the capital on the Air Force aircraft while at the Armoured Squadron they were driven in some of the armoured cars, around the Burma Camp.
As compared to previous years, they joined queues from the entrance of the Air Force Base before they were conveyed in batches to the tarmac.
On the tarmac, their names were mentioned one after another after which they boarded the aircraft.
The congestion which normally occur at the tarmac was not experienced this year due to the orderly manner the exercise was conducted.
At the Recce Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, the children were chauffeured in armoured cars.
At Ho, the Commanding Officer of the 66 Artillery Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Lt. Col. Emmanuel Kotia, said the military should not be seen as an isolated entity but the embodiment of society that cherish peaceful coexistence.
He said the level of good civil-military relationship should not be measured in terms of unfounded cases of molestation of civilians but must go beyond to the gesture of social responsibility that soldiers had exhibited for a long time now.
Addressing a press conference to mark the open day celebration, he reaffirmed that the military was a partner in development and nation building and that it was its expressed desire to foster relationship with the public devoid of animosity and acrimony.
According to Lt. Col. Kotia, soldiers of the regiment were in partnership with the people of Mafi-Anfoe in the North Tongu District in the construction of a library, adding that the support would continue until the project was completed.
The commanding officer also said the soldiers would assist the people of Kpenoe in the Ho Municipality to construct a water reservoir and check illegal sand winning, adding that the blood donation to the Volta Regional Hospital had become an annual affair.
On projects, he said a 70-acre mango plantation had been established in addition to a kraal that was opened to interested civilians too.
He said the income generated from the projects was used to improve the welfare of troops and families in the barracks.
He said the people of the Volta Region were fortunate for the regiment in Ho because it was the only military unit in the Ghana Armed Forces trained to use artillery weapons.