Dr. Kwesi Aning is a security expert with the KAIPTC
• Kwesi ANing has identified that there is a lapse in the training and culture of the military
• He has asked that these are interrogated
• He explained that particularly for the men of the Service, they must revisit their understanding of their jobs
Dr. Kwesi Aning, the Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Center (KAIPTC) is pushing for a revision of the institutional culture and the training of the military as a way of arresting the rest excesses some of them have been involved in.
It has become clear, lately, that there seems to be a trend of too many security personnel, including the military, running amok, terrorizing citizens and meting out injustices on innocent people.
He explained that there is also the need to properly interrogate the understanding that the men and women in uniform have of their fundamental jobs, in line with the visions of the military.
“It raises a fundamental problem of the institutional culture and the nature of the training that immediately they’ve formally been given this attire, gives them a sense of … and the powers conferred on them by the state to bear weapons on its behalf to protect both the state and its citizenry. That is the institutional culture that we need to interrogate and to ask whether, during the training, [and here, I’m hoping that my two dear friends: the minister of Defence, Mr. Nitiwul, and then General Oppong-Peprah] that we can have a conversation of as to whether we can include institutional cultures in the training.
“But even more importantly, issues of attitude and behavior because we can provide all the training that we have, but if the appropriate posture and the understanding of their mission and the vision of the institution that they serve aren’t understood properly, then we will see this reversal to 30 years ago when civil-military relations were fraught with violence, with fear, and with a certain unwillingness by the citizenry to have any relationship to do with the military,” he explained.
Dr. Kwesi Aning was speaking on Saturday, July 3, 2021 edition of NewsFile on the JoyNews channel, monitored by GhanaWeb.