By Mustapha Jallow
A three day induction training of members of the National Security Drafting Committee, has opened at a local hotel in Bakau. The session was meant to prepare drafters for a design on the Security Sector Reform strategy. It was well attended by SSR specialists International partners, senior representatives from the UN, AU and ECOWAS.
The objective of the induction is to enhance understanding of the SSR and its corresponding activities in the transformation of National Security and in particular, the two cardinal tools in the process, namely National Security Strategy and the SSR strategy.
In his opening statement, the Adviser to the President Mai Ahamed Fatty, said the induction course is developed to harmonize the understanding of participants in order to enhance their collective capacity to develop a high quality National Security and SSR strategy, in the shortest possible time-frame.
“The development of the national security strategy to implement the national security policy as well as the SSR strategy to implement the findings and recommendations of the SSR Assessment report with a view to reform the security sector, is very critical at this juncture of our SSR process,’’ Fatty stated.
He said the President has recognised the need for a credible national security capability to the country; that this cannot be achieved without an overarching strategic and appropriate regulatory framework in place. He acknowledged the role played by distinguish international advisors.
Fatty said in order to achieve this critical task of strategic framework development, government has assembled key stakeholders from relevant public and private departments and organizations, including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the media, to collaborate with the Office of National Security in developing the two plans.
“It is my fervent hope that this induction will not only prepare us for the work ahead, and will also provide us with a platform for open discussions that will facilitate inter-agency collaboration to move forward,’’ he said. “You will be prepared with the strategic perspective, professional knowledge and necessary skills required for the task ahead. At the end of this three days induction training, you will be expected to be equipped with the requisite knowledge, talents, and skills to tackle the critical dimension in drafting National Security Strategy and Security Sector Reform Strategy, both key in the success of our SSR process,’’ Fatty concludes.
On his part, Momodou Badjie the National Security Adviser and head of the SSR, said the induction training on SSR has demonstrated the need to discuss the opportunities and challenges of joint approaches to SSR and by extension, ‘our nation’s security’; that the induction will as well help contribute to the strengthening of their skills while focusing their understanding on the design and formulation of the NSS and SSR strategy documents.
“Our presence here is to update people on the SSR and challenges,’’ he said; that there can be no sustainable development without stable, effective, efficient and democratically accountable institutions. He thanked stakeholders and partners who support the training and further assured that in their discussion, there will interaction between participants and recourses persons during the induction.
