NAIROBI, Kenya, May 28- Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma has called on National Defence College (NDC) 2020 Graduates to support the COVID-19 measures and directives put up by African governments.
Speaking while presiding over the graduation ceremony of the local and International students, CS Juma urged them to deploy the knowledge and competencies they have acquired at NDC to play critical security roles in their respective countries during and after the pandemic.
“You return to your institutions and countries with a real challenge in hand, in the current pandemic of Covid-19. This is a critical test case for our nations and the world and while the scale of its impact is still to be estimable, we know by this point that it has plunged humanity more than a century back. But we also know that crisis even as this one forges their own leaders,” she told the graduates at the Karen-based defence college.
“I urge each one of you to engage with this challenge which although a health crisis, has ramification that cut across all sectors of our society. So there is no doubt that each one of us must make their input in the search of a recovery plan and strategies to mitigate any other crisis that may come.”
She further pointed out that despite COVID-19 pandemic the course progressed seamlessly calling on the graduates to continue demonstrating their worth in the protection and advancement of their nations.
Eleven members of the graduating class were drawn from 10 African countries outside Kenya.
“This requires boldness of thought, engaging outside our comfort zones and yes, it will call for courageous, even unpopular decisions and actions. Africa and the world at large is in dire need for more men and women, who will not only create great policies and strategies but will also implement them and get the job done expeditiously,” she said.
As of May 27, African countries had recorded 124,733 cases with 3700 deaths.
However, 51,059 people had recovered leaving 69,974 cases active.
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