By Christiana Afua Nyarko
Accra, Dec 23, GNA – Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, the Dean of Students at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), has been awarded for his meritorious service to the institution.
The well-known academician was presented with a citation, a Dagger Award which represented fortitude, tenacity, integrity, and intellectual prowess by Major General Matthew Essien, the Commandant of GAFCSC, for his twelve-year service and contributions to academic and non-academic endeavours.
This was done during the graduation of the Junior Staff Course (JSC) 82 made up of seventy-six officer students from the Ghana Armed Forces and that of allied African countries.
The officers consisted of Sixty-One Ghanaian Junior officers drawn from the Ghana Army, Navy and Airforce whilst the remaining fifteen were from The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Botswana and Liberia.
The officers were taken through a 19- week course, from August this year in areas such as Peace Operations, Geopolitics, Crisis and Conflict Management amongst others.
Their studies were intertwined with several field exercises, presentations, Syndicate group discussions, Map exercises among others on thematic areas such as the impact of illegal Mining on the environment, farmer-herder conflicts, the impact of agro-processing on food security just to name a few.
The aim was to improve the leadership, communication, and analytical skills of the officers in their various field of endeavours.
Major General Nii Carl Coleman (Rtd), the Guest of Honour, in his address, stated that, the 19-week course went beyond the impartation of knowledge, skills and the building of professional capacities.
He said the course would position them to effectively tackle natural and human-caused conflicts and security-related issues on the continent and the rest of the world.
“With your current knowledge and skills gained, it is important that you constantly strive at a clearer understanding of what it takes to contain any of these threats, be it natural or man-made. I exhort you, therefore, as professional military officers to always be ahead in your awareness and preparations to be on top of challenges that you might encounter on your future endeavours,” he said.
The retired general charged graduate officers to display the highest level of discipline, integrity and dedication coupled with a full commitment to problem solving in respect of their various duties and as commanders and staff officers in the near future.
Awards were given to officers who had excelled in their studies.
Captain Desmond Klutse of the Ghana Army won the Overall Best Student Award whilst the Best Allied Student Award and the Third Best Assistant Commandant’s Paper Award was taken by Major Mohmodu Bah of the Gambian Armed Forces.
The Second-Best Assistant Commandant’s Paper Award went to Major Bangu Chakalisa-Kaisara of the Bostwana Defence Forces whilst the Evarad Prize Award was presented to Squadron Leader Cynthia Awusi-Nti of the Ghana Airforce.
The Junior Division of the GAFCSC, initially known as the national war college, was established on 14th November 1963 as part of the Military Academy and Training Schools.
Since the inception of GAFCSC in 1976, the College has trained Junior division officers from various African countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Togo, Zimbabwe, Nigeria.
GNA