‘Gov’t would improve conditions of soldiers’

“We join the CDS on tour with the objective of ensuring that we also at the level of the ministry get first hand information on the issue affecting soldiers. I can tell you all that we are formulating a lot of policies and regulations that are all geared towards improving the betterment of the GAF. As we are speaking, the GAF Engineering Unit is currently delivering materials to various GAF deployments which are all intended to improve their accommodations." 

Minister Njie was speaking to journalists at the end of the first leg of the Chief of Defence Staff’s countrywide tour of visiting military installations with the desire of interacting with soldiers and knowing their living and working conditions. During the tour, the CDS, who was accompanied by the minister and senior officers of GAF, visited seven military installations in the rural parts of the country.

“We want to inspect our troops and also to look at some of their operational capabilities that are supposed to be with them. We also have the opportunity to talk to regional governors and other security apparatus and the community members in order to talk to them on the significance of peace and stability towards nation’s building.”

The government, he said, has done a lot since 2016 in terms of Security Sector Reforms (SSR). “On the side of the armed forces, a lot of capacity building and reforms have been achieved and a lot of policies and regulations have also been done. In fact, even the terms and conditions of service for both officers and soldiers have been done.”

The image of the armed forces compared to before, Minister Njie said, has massively changed. “There have been tremendous achievements and changes in GAF as soldiers are now limited to their constitutional mandate which is to defend the territorial integrity of this country. In fact, you hardly hear a crime being committed by the troops. They are law abiding and they are committed to maintaining the country’s peace and stability,” he postulated.

Responding to the challenges raised by soldiers during the first leg of the tour of military installations, Defence Minister Njie said: “We have done a lot under the leadership of President Adama Barrow and we will continue to do more. Of course, we are aware that there are a lot of gaps and challenges when it comes to housing facilities of members of the GAF, but I can tell you that we are committed to addressing them immediately.”

“In fact, where we are currently, which is the 2 Infantry Battalion, the government has contributed and committed a lot of resources to build standard housing which can accommodate more than 100 soldiers. When the building is done, it will add to the improvement of living conditions of soldiers.”

The Ministry of Defence, he went on, has registered tremendous success. “There have never been policies, documents, or legislative frameworks which enhanced the effectiveness of the ministry. Again, we are currently working on a lot of policy documents all geared towards ensuring that we have professional and standard armed forces.”

“The GAF is working on the terms and conditions of both officers and also the armed forces regulations. These are important documents which need to be reviewed. They were done in the 90s. Therefore, in this 21st century, whatever policy we are doing, it must be a modern one that will speak the reality on the ground.”    

Rohie Bittaye Darboe, the permanent secretary at the Defence Ministry, spoke on the importance of the tour, while describing it as crucial for the Ministry. It will go a long way in ensuring that we come out with the right policies and regulations that are geared towards the betterment of the GAF.”

“During the tour, we also emphasised on the significance of unity and cooperation among security services of the country without which, it would be difficult to maintain peace in the country. The security apparatus of the country can’t work in isolation. They have to work together in order to ensure that the country is peaceful and well secured.”