The Southern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) yesterday, inaugurated a 124-bedroom Tarantula Transit Quarters to help provide accommodation for out-stationed personnel who travel to Accra for official duties.
As a subvent project, the facility which was listed on the Tarantula Transit Audit was funded by the GAF with support from the Military High Command, friends from the Southern Command, and it’s Internally Generated Funds.
The edifice has dining halls, dormitories, kitchens, ironing rooms, baths and toilet rooms to make the stay of personnel comfortable.
Speaking at the inauguration of the facility, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah noted that the Southern Command was responsible for security in seven regions namely Greater Accra, Central, Western, Western North, Eastern, Volta and Oti regions.
Out of the seven regions, two were situated outside Accra and that he said, put a lot of pressure on the Southern Command as it lacked adequate accommodation for personnel who came down for training and other operational duties.
According to him, some personnel had to live with their friends when they came to Accra and that affected their operations.
The establishment of the transit quarters, Major General Oppong-Peprah noted would go a long way to solve the accommodation issues faced by the GAF, thereby, improving work efficiency of its personnel.
In his view, government had come up with initiatives such as the Barracks Revitalisation Project to make sure military personnel were provided with adequate accommodation to help improve their operations, and encouraged units of the GAF to embark on projects such as the Tarantula Transit Quarters to improve their operations.
Brigadier-General Michael Amoah Ayisi, General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Southern Command in an interview said, the facility was vital as the Army continues to grow and the security challenges kept increasing by the day.
He indicated that the security issues kept transforming and, therefore, called for revamping of accommodation and logistics to deal with the issues in a fast changing world.
“As the Army keeps expanding to take up the current challenges, it is important we revamp our accommodation facilities.”
“The threats that we have now are not what it used to be. Now it is shifting from contemporary country to country differences to terrorism among others, which means we need to think outside the box in order to deal with these threats,” Brigadier-General Ayisi said.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
