By Makutu Manneh
Sheikh Omar Faye Minister of Defence and General Masanneh Kinteh Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) on Tuesday 29th October 2019 started a nationwide solidarity tour.
These officials will be visiting Gambia Armed Forces (GAF) military stations across the country.
The objective of the visit is to familiarise the Defence Minister and his delegation with GAF deployments outside the greater Banjul and the Kombos. This is the first time the Minister of Defence joins the GAF tour.
The officials said the nationwide tour is not only to visit their sister services, but also to meet with local authorities and it will last for 4 days.
General Kinteh said apart from familiarising the Minister with their deployments, the other purpose of the tour is to see the working and living conditions of their troops and families as well as the challenges they have with their logistics.
The CDS added they are also doing the tour to gather facts and put them together in the form of a comprehensive report and find ways and means of tackling the problems they come across during the tour.
“We expect that it is going to be a much better outcome after the tour,” he said.
He said their first engagement will be to meet the Ghanaian contingents deployed as (ECOMIG) forces in The Gambia in the North Bank Region. Mr. Kinteh said they believe that as part of good practice and good governance, it is always necessary to be able to engage themselves at different levels of command so that they get to know plans.
“This is an opportunity where they can air their views and also an opportunity where we can transmit the message of the transformation agenda that we have for GAF”, said the CDS.
He said they would take this opportunity to engage members of the communities and learn from them how the Army is doing their work and how they can advise them to serve them better.
Sheikh Omar Faye Defence Minister said his priority is to implement the security sector reform, ensure that The Gambia is a safe place and one of the best places in the world.
“We want the Gambia to stabilize and be peaceful so that there will be development,” he said.
He said ECOMIG are in The Gambia to help as they did in Liberian, Sudan, Darfur and other places.
“They are part of the system and globalized world,” he said
Mr. Faye said they are looking at the territorial integrity of the Gambia and that they are looking at everything to ensure that they update on their gains and make sure that Gambians are informed.
