So-called secessionists are mere criminals; GAF won’t use heavy arsenals to overrun them -Nitiwul

The Defence Minister, Dominic Aduna Bingab Nitiwul, has described the so-called secessionist groups in the country as mere criminals who the Ghana Armed Forces will not use its arsenal to overrun. According to him, the secessionists do not fall in the category of a group whose activities need the full deployment of the army for combat.

“As for what is happening within the country, they are just mere criminals. We consider them as criminals and we will treat them as such. They are citizens who are largely being misled into criminal activity, so we will treat them as such. We are not going to use the forces of the state to overrun them. They are not people we will want to use heavy arsenals to overrun them.”

The Defence Minister said this when granting an interview to the media after a stimulation exercise – Land Combat Power Demonstration – at the Bundase Training Camp in the Greater Accra Region last week Friday.

Threat of insurgency

Focusing on insurgencies across the West Africa sub-region, he said the Ghana government was providing the Armed Forces with resources to protect citizens, especially from where a threat is coming from – countries up north that are largely under threat.

“And, what the government has done is to provide the Armed Forces with resources to establish 15 Forward Operation Base, where we will build military camps in some selected towns up north to be able to house military people and give them enough equipment, ammunitions and weapons for them to protect us in that field,” he added.

The expansion of the activity, according to the Minister, will run from the Oti Region through the Northern Region to the North East, Upper, Upper East and back to Bono and Savannah regions. Thus, the whole northern part of the country is going to be protected, and with this, the government will be protecting the country from the threat of insurgency.

Protect Bundase Training Camp from encroachers

As Accra is fast expanding, encroachment on the vast land size of the Bundase Training Camp has also come under threat. Mr Nitiwul, therefore, tasked the Ghana Armed Forces to take pragmatic steps to protect it from being encroached.

He described the Bundase Training Camp as one of the most important facilities Ghana has, as it gives the Armed Forces a range of over 20 kilometres.

Therefore, he said: “In the unlikely event that this place is taken away from the Armed forces, we will have a very big problem. So, I will first and foremost, say that the Armed Forces should take a very active steps to protect the training ground, especially as Accra expands, so that people do not come and encroach upon the land.”

The stimulation exercise

He said the army is trained for war, and in war times they utilise the skills that that they have learnt, and that the Friday’s exercise was to demonstrate to students of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (FAFCSC), and the general public, what it means by being in a war situation.

Mr Nitiwul clarified that the land fire power demonstration was to help the students acquaint themselves with what happens on battle fields, and was not targeted at anybody.  According to him, the government would continue to give the Armed Forces all the tools that they need, especially for training, and promised that by the end of the year, a new set of armoured vehicles would arrive to augment the existing ones.

He said the exercise was good for two reasons, first “it tells a potential enemy within and outside that the Ghana Armed Forces will and shall protect the people when the need arises, and also that they have the ability to protect this nation.”

The Defence Minister continued by saying: “When you have a very strong armed forces which are well motivated, well trained, then the nation will begin to have vast investment, because nobody puts money in a country where they know that your armed forces can easily be overrun.

“Lucky for us, we have a very strong, disciplined and professional armed forces. And they will do everything to ensure Ghana is protected, and this a very useful exercise. Every year we continue to give them resources to do that.”

Lieutenant Colonel Simeone Barifo Nyante, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion of Infantry, on his part, said the land combat power demonstration was an event in the calendar of Ghana Armed Forces. He said the aim was to enable students of the Ghana Armed Forces and Staff College to appreciate fire assets available to the battle groups, and how they are employed in deep, close and rear operations.

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