Defence Minister says his soldiers in woeful living conditions

Minister of Defence, Paolo Conteh says the barracks in which soldiers live “is nothing to write home about”. He was speaking to journalists at a news conference held at the Defence Headquarters in Freetown. Minister Conteh said they needed about US$ 22 to 25 million to construct decent living barracks for soldiers because it was a capital intensive project. He said whenever he and the Chief of Defence Staff met with President Ernest Bai Koroma they would always bring the problem of accommodation for soldiers to his attention. The Minister of Defence said although the military has been downsized to 8,500 officers and men, accommodation remained one of their major problems, adding, however, that the morale of the soldiers was high despite their awful living conditions. Mr. Conteh noted that the United Nations has asked the RSLAF to provide 850 officers and men for a mission in Darfur. “The African Union has asked for two platoons in Mali and a Company for Guinea Bissau”, he said, adding that there were one thousand soldiers on peacekeeping missions. The Defence Minister said that Sierra Leone was ranked second after Rwanda in Africa for peacekeeping operations. Speaking on the retirement of the twenty-one officers on 28 May 2013, the Director of Defence Personnel, Colonel Usman Turay, said that there were four ways through which service personnel could be removed from the military. They include voluntary retirement or resignation, normal retirement on attaining 55 years, retirement for misconduct and retirement on health grounds and those conditions are covered under Sections 26 and 27 of the Army Orders No.1 of 1965 (terms and conditions of service for officers of the RSLAF). Colonel Turay said the Defence Council (DC) decided on a number of issues including the retirement of some officers. He said three officers: Brigadier General M.A. Sesay, Brigadier General D.Y. Sesay, and Brigadier General J.A.O. Jah-Tucker were retired for reaching 55 years and above. He said two officers: Major Samuel P. Moody and Captain H.M. Kanja were granted voluntary retirement. He added that eight officers: Lieutenant Colonel S.S. Sillah, Major B.S. Banyah, Lieutenant (Navy) S.M. Ndaloma, Captain (DR) M.I. Jalloh, Lieutenant E.L. Conteh, Lieutenant A.B. Sannoh, Lieutenant (Dr.) G. Sandy and Lieutenant (Dr.) L.S. Konuwah were discharged on the ground of absence without leave (AWOL) while eight officers: Brigadier General Komba S.M. Mondeh, Major F. Gevao, Major P.C. Combay, Major B. Kargbo, Captain P. Fefegula, Lieutenant L.L. Leema, Lieutenant V. Muana and Lieutenant B.B. Byle were compulsorily retired. Meanwhile, four officers have been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. They are Colonel Mamadi Keita, Colonel David Taluva, Captain Navy Moses Miller (now Commodore), and Colonel Brima Sesay while Brigadier General John Milton has been promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of Defence Staff. On the issue of the demilitarization of Yenga, Colonel Turay said the Guinean Armed Forces (GAF) have withdrawn their personnel and ammunitions from Yenga since 8 April, 2013. He said the GAF have been occupying Yenga since 1998 but with the resolution of the border conflict, the RSLAF would extend its joint RSLAF/SLP border patrols to the area to monitor any cross border activities and to assure the local populace. Colonel Turay added that they would also reactivate their parallel border patrol with the Guinean Armed Forces, code named “Operation Makona”.