Kofi Ampeah Woode
To meet the demands of contemporary value chain of transport support and to enhance tracking and communication with its fleet whiles executing duties, the Defence Mechanical Transport Battalion (Def MT Bn) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), has commissioned its first Operations Room, since inception, and christened it “OPOKU OPERATIONS ROOM”.
The Guest-of-Honour for the occasion and Director, Supplies & Transport – Colonel (Col) Fusheini Abdulai Natogma, was assisted by the Commanding Officer (CO), Def MT Bn – Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Aaron Amadu Baba, to cut the tape to officially commission the newly functional historic Operations Room, on Thursday, January 19, 2023, at Burma Camp, Accra.
Lt Col AA Baba, who leads the Unit with a vision of a Unit that is well-motivated, well-trained, highly-skilled, and capable of providing transport support to GAF in diverse settings both in peace and war times, said the importance of transport support in the success of Armed Forces the world over, cannot be underestimated.
Col Baba furthered that ensuring that troops and supplies get to where they need to be, is an essential conduit in keeping forces operational, thus, without adequate transportation, successful accomplishment of the “arm it, fuel it, fix it, and man it”, logistical objectives would be impossible, making transport indispensable in any serious Armed Forces.
He added that the roles and responsibilities of his Unit have increased significantly, due to the ongoing expansion in GAF, invariably resulting in a strain on the already insufficient transport resources the Unit has to undertake the numerous tasks assigned it, however, the Unit has been able to effectively support the 3 Services of GAF – Army, Navy and Air Force – with third- and fourth-line transport support, as well as first- and second-line transport support to General Headquarters (GHQ) Departments and Directorates.
In addition to effectively and efficiently performing its functions, the CO continued, the Unit was able to marshal all available resources, both human and material, to activate and operationalize the Ops Room, to enable its hardworking drivers who sacrifice or risk their lives daily, driving across the length and breadth of the country, to now be able to communicate or channel their challenges and concerns directly to the Ops Room for immediate remedial action.
Upon assumption of Command and minded to ensure that the Unit was well positioned to play its role professionally, Lt Col Baba embarked on a number of activities and projects that had the potential to engender confidence and motivate troops to work assiduously towards the accomplishment of the overall objectives of the Unit.
It is incumbent on Def MT Bn Ops Room, to communicate with Companies under its command on tasks allotted to ensure efficient and prompt execution, sorting and dealing with incoming details, and ensuring efficient and proper use of vehicles, maintaining a chart on the disposition of Battalion vehicles, and the duties on which they are committed.
The Ops Room also liaises with demanding Units to ensure that vehicles on demand are the right type for the detail on hand.
Other Senior Officers who graced the occasion include Command Logistics Officer, Army Training Command – Col Mohammed Wumbei, Col Harry Keelson – Logistics Officer, Army Special Operations Brigade, Col Franklin Gyamerah-Amoako, – Director, Defence Industries Department, Lt Col Justina Frimpong – Deputy Director, Administration, Army Headquarters, Lt Col William Karikari – CO, Base Supply Depot, Lt Col Maxwell Aferi – CO, Armed Forces Supply & Transport Training School.
