Ho, March 7, GNA - Lieutenant Colonel Abass Seidu, Commanding Officer of the 66 Artillery Regiment, in Ho, on Monday stressed that, the military institution was committed to the smooth, orderly and qualitative growth of democracy in Ghana.

He said it will therefore not be party to any clandestine moves to subvert the process of democratic governance in the country. Lt Col Seidu said this when he was interacting with the public on the role of the military in national development, with emphasis on the 66 Artillery Regiment.

It formed part of activities marking Armed Forces Open Day, by military garrisons in the country, organized every year as part of Ghana's Independence Day Celebrations. Lt Col Seidu said the military institution was currently a mission-focused one with high competencies in vast areas, which affects national development positively in many ways. He said military-civilian ties in his area of command had been particularly good with hardly any negative incidents worthy of mentioning.

Lt Col Seidu conceded however that there were still misconceptions by civilians about the military and some misjudged expectations of soldiers from civilians that needed to be worked on. The visitors, including institutional cadet corps, students and pupils, were shown both the heavy artillery and light arms in the armory of the Regiment, with some having the opportunity to fire cannon. Questions asked included why soldiers were often boisterous, ranking regimes in the military and procedures for recruitment. Present were Colonel Cyril Necku, Deputy Volta Regional Minister and a former Commander Officer of the Regiment, Captain George Nfodjo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central, Mr David Ampah-Bennin, Out-Going Volta Regional Police Commander and Mr Isaac Kodobisah, Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).