By Prince J. Musa in Kenema
The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces have re-established the second infantry brigade headquarters for the Eastern region in Kenema city, more than a decade after it had been closed down by the previous government.
The official ceremony witnessed by top government officials and local leaders took place on Friday 26 February 2021 at Reservation, the same site of the last brigade.
Paramount Chief of Nongowa Chiefdom, Mohamed Siddique Kapuwa welcomed the return of the army facility and told the gathering that they as traditional leaders appreciated peace and development but acknowledged that those attributes could only flourish where there was security.
The Director General in the Ministry of Defence, Mohamed Brima Daboh described the event as historic, and coming a long time after the brigade had been removed from Kenema.
He said the city was the only regional capital without a brigade, unlike Makeni and Bo in the north and south respectively. “There is no reason why Kenema should not have a brigade,” he said.
Daboh said Kenema’s proximity to both the neighbouring countries of Liberia and Guinea, as well as the sense of due response to security issues by the Ministry of Defense officials had all contributed to making an army presence there in the form of a brigade all the more plausible.
He implored on the stakeholders in Kenema to consider the army personnel on deployment there as their children, and to accord them the maximum support in executing their constitutional mandate in terms of providing security in the eastern part of the country.
The Resident Minister of the East, Andrew Ansu Fatorma expressed delight over the steps taken by government through the Ministry of Defence in reinstituting the brigade in Kenema and encouraged the people to work together with the military for national development.
He said President Julius Maada Bio was keen to close any semblance of divide in the country and expressed gratitude to the government for returning what he called the oldest brigade in the nation, to its original place.
“The removal of the brigade from Kenema by the former regime had no justification since we have one Sierra Leone Army not one regional army”, Fatorma said.
He pleaded with the hierarchy of RSLAF to always consider the welfare of their personnel in the region and promised of their cooperation and support as key stakeholders in the area.
The commander of the second infantry troops, Brigadier Albert Sylvester Bockarie referred to the return of the second infantry brigade as a memorable event for serving personnel under his command saying “we have had this struggle for far too long for the return of the brigade to Kenema but today our struggle has been actualised”.
He recognized the efforts of the Kenema Mayor, the Paramount Chief, the Resident Minister, and the land-owning family for providing them with the land space for the brigade.
Brigadier Bockarie acknowledged also the encouragement he received from colleague brigadiers towards the process. He said: “The army is a family, we always tap each other’s back in anything, therefore I’m grateful to my senior brigadiers and the RSLAF family for their motivation and support to this development”.
The event’s keynote speaker, Deputy Minister of Defence Rtd. Colonel Muana Brima Massaquoi said the decision for the reestablishment of the second infantry brigade had come directly from the Commander in Chief of RSLAF and president, Julius Maada Bio, just as other regions had a brigade. He explained how during his campaign he had promised the people of the eastern region to give them back their brigade. He said the civil conflict that erupted in 1991 came through neighbouring Liberia on the eastern border, hence the need for a brigade to be stationed in that part of the country.
He thanked the local authorities for their support to the RSLAF and advised the soldiers to work with the stakeholders to promote national security and for them to see the civil populace as pillars for all security networks in a country.
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