The Defence Minister, Mr Dominic Ntiwul, yesterday commissioned a fully furnished 128 students accommodation block complex for the Engineers Training School of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in Accra.
The GH₵4.3 million facility, funded by the German government and comprises 16 rooms, dining hall and kitchen, is expected to resolve the accommodation challenge facing the school.
A 30-seater Mitsubishi Coaster bus to facilitate movement of students and a new heavy duty machine for the Wood Construction Technology Workshop was also presented to the school.
Mr Ntiwul who expressed gratitude to the German government for the tremendous support to the school said, following the accommodation challenges, the school made all courses non-residential.
He expressed hope that the facility would be able to house many students from the sub-regions and officers of the GAF to facilitate effective teaching and learning.
“The school was facing accommodation challenges, which made all course non-residential, but with this edifice, the school can now comfortably accommodate all students who will come on courses with effects from the first quarter of this year,” he said.
Mr Ntiwul urged management of the school to introduce more technical programmes as government prioritises technical education to equip the nation’s human resource to improve development
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Christophe Retzalaff, said the German government was supporting the security architecture programme of some selected African countries to improve security intelligence and infrastructural development.
He said since 2001, Ghana had become a major beneficiary of the programme in areas of infrastructure development and exchange programmes with Germany Armed Forces.
Mr Retzalaff said the Kofi Annan Training Centre, for instance, had also benefited from the programme through the solid bilateral relations between Ghana and German.
“I am also happy to announce that the German parliament has approved three projects to support the infrastructure capacity of GAF, as Ghana remains one of our strong partners in Africa,” he said.
The Commanding Officer, Engineer Training School, Lt Col Ernest B. Nyuur, said the school had trained many personnel over the years who continued to contribute their technical skills and knowledge acquired from the school.
He added that the facility had played a very key role in providing technical training in areas of combat and constructional engineering to all ranks and civilian employee.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
