64 Battalion revived…800 FRESH COMMANDOS RECRUITED

Flawless information gathered by TODAY offer concrete evidence that government has recruited some 800 new Commandos outside of the regular Armed Forces. Some of the prospective Commandos, TODAY discovered from weeks of surveillance are undergoing rigorous military exercises, including Martial Arts at Asutuare in the Eastern Region.

Ninety of the recruits, TODAY can state on authority passed out last week, with another batch of 300 who have undergone successful screening being taken to South Africa and Cuba for further training.

The rest of the recruits who passed screening last week are expected to start training today at the Asutuare special military base with the usual military exercises. The martial arts bit of the training, TODAY’s investigations established, are being taught by some senior Commandos of the dreadful defunct 64 Battalion Unit.

Defence Minister, Joseph Henry Smith

Although members of the 64 Battalion were integrated into the regular army by the Kufuor administration, some of them who refused to comply with the directive and resigned have found their way back into many military installations in the country since the induction into office of the NDC administration.

A further probe by the paper, established clearly that most of the recruits are card-bearing members of the ruling National Democratic Congress and the move is a way of rewarding them for keeping faith with the party during its turbulent period in opposition.

TODAY discovered that members of the group are likely to beef up the security detail at various polling centres in the 2012 elections with the first test for those who passed out recently being the Bawku Central and Chereponi bye-elections.

They could not be recruited into the regular army because a move in that direction will negate government’s policy of putting a temporary freeze on recruitment into the Ghana Armed Forces and the Police Service.

Most of the recruits, TODAY’s sorties at the Asutuare camp established are stark illiterate and therefore could not in any way be admitted into any of the recognized and established State security apparatus. A few of the recruits with some level of education are the ones being considered for training in Cuba and South Africa.

“We were selected and informed by our party (NDC) officials in our constituencies that we were to undergo military training at Asutuare”, a recruit disclosed.

But Interior Minister, Cletus Avoka played down the fact that the recruits are NDC party foot-soldiers. He told TODAY in an interview that “The training has nothing to do with elections or the 2012 elections. Criminal activities like armed robbery are on the rise and we need to beef up the security of the State. That is the essence of the training of the Commandos.”

Hon. Avoka confirmed that government embarked on the special exercise to augment efforts of the Police and the Army to fight armed robbery and also to help their patrol teams to combat crime since in his estimation “crime is a challenge to us all”.

“They are being trained at Asutuare to help the Police and the Military to combat the various crime activities Ghana is battling”, Minister Avoka further disclosed; but was quick to dismiss the claim that some of the trainees passed out last week.

Special Report: Richmond Keelson & William Beeko