President Mahama urges military to deal with security threats

President John Dramani Mahama has charged the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to restrategise to deal with the emerging global security threats.

He said terrorism and other security threats were becoming more sophisticated, and the armed forces needed to re-engineer their strategies to meet the challenge.

Interacting with officers and men of the Ghana Armed Forces at Burma Camp Tuesday, Mr Mahama cited Boko Haram's atrocities in Nigeria as one of the challenges and said such activities constituted a dangerous threat that the Ghana Armed Forces must keep an eye on.

Development projects 

Before the durbar, the President had inspected some ongoing projects for the armed forces.

They include a helipad constructed for the 37 Military Hospital  emergency evacuation, as well as housing units at Burma Camp.

Mr Mahama stated that the government was in the process of acquiring all the necessary equipment needed by the GAF for international peacekeeping operations.

He said funding was being sought to procure equipment for the effective operations of Ghanaian soldiers serving in Lebanon, Congo, South Sudan and other troubled areas without any difficulty.

Mr Mahama said Ghana’s image in peacekeeping was phenomenal and indicated that it would be guarded jealously.

He mentioned that the country was deploying 850 troops in South Sudan. Already 350 are in that country, while the remaining 500 were yet to be deployed.

Investing in the Ghana Armed Forces 

President Mahama told the soldiers that the government would continue to invest in the armed forces to enable them  to deliver their mandate effectively and efficiently both within the country and internationally.

Such investment, he noted, was being made in equipment, capacity building and welfare of soldiers.

The President said when he took over as Chairman of the Ghana Armed Forces Council during the presidency of Professor J.E.A. Mills, the armed forces were in a sorry state in terms of logistics to work with.

With the permission of President Mills, he said, he led a major initiative by the government to modernise the GAF, which resulted in the acquisition of seven ships for the Navy, two multi-purpose aircraft for the Air Force and a number of vehicles for the infantry.

He said if Ghana stood out as the safest and most secured nation in the sub-region today, a huge chunk of the compliments should go to the GAF and the entire security services.

Economic challenges

Mr Mahama mentioned the fact that the structure of the Ghanaian economy, which is dependent on raw commodities, had not helped the country.

He said the economic challenges faced by the nation were partly as a result of the drop in gold and cocoa prices.

Mr Mahama said there was marginal increase in cocoa price on the international market but that was not up to expected levels.

He said the decision by some of the mining companies to shut down operations was based partly on the fall in the price of gold, adding that the shutdown would negatively affect government revenues.

In that respect, the President said there was the need to restructure the economy to meet current demands.

Commitment

He commended the GAF for its continuous commitment to him and the nation.

The Minister of Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, assured the President of the unalloyed support of the GAF, and said the soldiers appreciated the support the President was giving them to do their work.