The Inspectorate Unit otherwise called the Office of the Inspector General is a branch in the Gambia Armed Forces that deals with standardization in the army. It is a non-compromising unit, when it comes to the welfare of the troops. In making sure military standards are not compromised, the unit constantly conducts inspections to the battalions and formations within GAF and reports to the Chief of Defence Staff.
Background Information
The concept of the unit is in line with the proper military composition, and to that effect an executive directive was issued and implemented in October 2009, with its office located at Joint Service Headquarters-Banjul. The establishment of the unit is virtually in line with the core military tradition over the globe. Though, it is not a new phenomenon in all standard military setup, but a vital component that exists along with the armed forces for centuries. However, the core functions of the inspectorate unit may vary from country to country. In some countries, the army inspectorate unit extends its functions to all arms of the government as a monitoring agent, while in some countries the functions are only confined to the military domain.
Roles and Responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities include the following but not exhaustive:
- Supports in the implementation of the Commander-In-Chief `s directives and policies.
- Supports the Chief of Defense Staff’s mission and vision.
- Promotes and improves livelihood (feeding and accommodation) of personnel and their families of the armed forces.
- Inspects and ensures serviceability of military facilities, properties and equipment.
- Carries out any additional tasks or assignments given by the Chief of Defense Staff.
The GAF Inspectorate Unit has four (4) key sub-branches or directorates as shown in the flow-chart that are paramount to the roles and responsibilities.
- Standards and Evaluation: This branch conducts a periodic evaluation by inspection of various military facilities and activities like Parades, Recruit training, officers` orientation, Pre-deployment training and host of others.
- Oversight Directorate: This domain puts more emphasis on transparency and accountability of military facilities, equipment and projects at large. It also works with different units of GAF and thus makes a thorough follow-up of pending matters within the armed forces and between other government agencies.
- Policy & Directive: In this domain, more attention is given to the policy or directive from either the Commander-In-Chief or the Chief of Defense Staff; such as zero tolerance to skin bleaching, drug peddling and neutral status of armed forces from politics.
- PROJECTS: The directorate works in collaboration with GAF Engineering Corp to assess and ascertain the progress of projects across the GAF spectrum under its purview.
