The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is to digitize data of all its troops, including the Military and Police, in order to fast track the submission of troop nominal rolls.
 
At least forty-six (46) military and police personnel have successfully concluded training, aimed at enhancing their knowledge on information and database management.
 
“At the end of the day, we expect the running and management of personnel data will be smooth; and will translate to timely payment of the troops,” said Major John Kisaale, a data management facilitator with the AU Mission.
 
The migration from paper-based data to an online database, is also expected to hasten compensation and payout of allowances to the Mission’s uniformed personnel.
 
“This course is therefore coming at the right time, as it will help us to manage our personnel in a more professional manner; to enable your effective contribution to the overall goal of bringing peace to Somalia,” Maj. Gen. Gateretse, AMISOM Deputy Force Commander in-charge of Support and Logistics said in his remarks, during the official closing ceremony of the workshop today.
 
He urged participants to apply skills acquired in their day-to-day duties, including computing in troop allowances and undertaking investigations of troops’ conduct.
 
Participants were drawn from all AMISOM sectors and comprised of administrative officers, Board of Inquiry officers and data clerks, whose duties involve handling personnel issues and and providing mission support.
 
“It’s a big change that is going to help us resolve a lot of issues, in terms of finding documents in relation to particular personnel, maintaining medical records and troop rotations,” noted Bona Bandere, a Communication Information Technology Services (CITS) Officer.
 
Mr. Bandere, who also facilitated the workshop, said skills acquired from the five-day training sessions would enable beneficiaries to resolve critical issues relating to the management of troops.
 
“Whatever new things we have been able to learn, when we go back, let us ensure we put them into practice because it is only when we practice that we can be able to improve on the system,” said Col. Richard Sahid, the Chief of Military Personnel and Administration.