As he concludes his maiden tour of various battalions around the Country, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) has disclosed that he is working on an immediate and long term plan for the Military.
Lieutenant-General, John Milton confirmed to Awoko that from all battalions visited his men were in high spirits, despite some of the challenges they are faced with on the ground.
He added that the visit also gave him the opportunity to listen to the concerns of troops, with regards to capacity and logistics, which he assured, will be looked into within the shortest possible time.
The CDS encouraged his men to maintain discipline at all times, noting that the United Nations have upgraded Sierra Leone Peace Keeping to level II, which puts the country in the position to send two battalion on peace keeping, which is a plus to the country, in terms of maintaining peace in troubled Countries.
On the issue of the military contributing to agriculture and infrastructure development, Lieutenant-General Milton replied in the affirmative that, as part of his tour he stopped over at the military agriculture unit at Moyamba and was impressed from what he saw, and with regards to army engineering, the CDS confessed that more capacity as well as logistics is needed for the unit to function and serve well within the military and the public, which will save Government from huge costs to give out private contracts.
He disclosed that staff of the engineering unit played a pivotal role during the ebola outbreak, of establishing treatment centres in collaboration with the British troops, which came in to help.
Also Lieutenant-General John Milton furthered that plans are underway to construct living quarters for troops at Kambia, while Wilberforce is under construction and the first phase of Gondama is completed.
Questioned on the upgrade of both the air and naval wing of the military, the CDS was quick to respond that indeed, there’s much work to be done in both sectors, which is included in his strategic plan, which will be out soon.
He said negotiations are on with close allies in terms of more capacity training and equipment to beef up the army to match up with International standards, noting that a modern army should be fully functional with all three wings, infantry, navy and air force, fully equipped.
With regards to lawlessness and high rate of indiscipline in society, the military chief emphasised that with the design of the national youth service program, which is to be introduced soon, it will be good that citizens be also given the opportunity to serve in the military for a period of time as part of service to the nation, which will further shape them morally and instill self-discipline in their lives, to make society better.
By Ade Campbell
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