Toropo’s promotion timely as Defence Force eyes development

WHILE so much limelight was on Apec, a very significant event that almost went unnoticed was the promotion of Defence Force Commander Gilbert Toropo to to major general.
This is welcome news, not only to the Defence Force, but also to the country as it rekindles the spirit and purpose of the 2013 Defense Force White Paper to right-sizing the military’s capabilities.
It has been long overdue for the country to have an adequate defence capability which can respond to security contingencies and provide options to assist regional stabilisation initiatives that promote our national interests.
Major generals command divisions of between 10,000 and 16,000 soldiers.
They perform major tactical operations and conduct sustained battles and engagements.
The Defence Force once had a strength of a brigade, or four battalions, of about 4000 soldiers, but has been significantly reduced to barely 2000 men and women, thanks to Sir Mekere Morauta, the IMF and World Bank who supported the downsizing of the country’s armed forces.
Since then funding has been a major constraint, which has impeded the progress of the defence force and its capability.
Defence accounts for less than 2 per cent of government’s national budget and the Defence White Paper 2013 has plans to increase the force to 5000 men and women, and to double defence spending to 3 per cent by 2017, and by 2030 have 10,000 personnel.
Defence Minister Solan Mirisim’s effort to get the National Executive Council’s approval of the 2013 white paper’s medium-term development programme is a positive step in the right direction.
Speaking at the recent appointment of Major General Toropo, the minister said the MDT programme is an ambitious, effective programme worth more than K1.6 million with directives given under NEC to fulfill various key tasks in the next four years, starting this year.
The man capable of driving that ambitious programme is Major General Toropo.
He will have to build the 2000-strong army into a 10,000-strong military outfit or division.
He is an exotic figure with exceptional talent and character.
He is not just a classic military-looking figure with steady piercing dark eyes and strong jaw of a quintessential soldier cut out in a comic script.
Major General Toropo is a career officer who has had training at some of the world’s best military academies and achievements of par excellence, including the setting up of the country’s special force, better known as Long-range Reconnaissance Unit (LRRU)
As one of the few United States-trained rangers in the Defence Force, Toropo is a legend in reconnaissance in some of the world’s hotspots, including the Balkans and Middle East.
From these experiences he created the Long Range Reconnaissance Unit to provide patrols in tropical rainforests, wetlands and in the Highlands and developed the counter-terrorism capability for the Apec Summit.

David Lepi
Port Moresby