Latest update March 7th, 2025 7:05 AM
Mar 02, 2013 News
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF), in a press statement yesterday, said that two ranks, who were injured in the 2000 Camp Groomes explosion and taken off the payroll wrongfully, last year, will be returned to the Force’s payroll and will receive salaries from the date they were taken off duty.
The matter had drawn the attention of the state defence agency after this newspaper broke the story that the men were receiving no compensation and had been discharged from the army without salaries.
According to the GDF, an initial decision was taken that “the persons injured in the Camp Groomes explosion would remain on strength and with pay until they attained the age of retirement.
“More recently, a decision was taken to have those ranks appear before a Medical Board and be discharged as ‘ceasing to fulfil medical standards’, so that they can begin to receive benefits without having to wait until they were 40, provided that Defence Board agreed.”
The army claimed that investigations into the ranks complaints revealed that “a genuine error occurred where the two ranks that approached the newspaper were published in Force Orders as being struck off strength, ceasing to fulfill medical standards, and consequently, taken off the payroll when their documentation was not yet sent to the Defence Board.”
These ranks, the force said, should have remained on the payroll until the Defence Board’s approval was obtained. It expressed regret over the error.
The release said, “The Chief of Staff has assured the affected soldiers that the publication in Force Orders will be deleted and they will be returned to the payroll and receive salaries from the date they were taken off.”
The force concluded that it remains committed to the welfare of its ranks and assures that the correct procedures regarding the processing of their benefits will be followed.
In last Sunday’s issue of the Kaieteur News, the ranks expressed dissatisfaction, regret and disappointment at the way the army had been treating them since the explosion occurred.
After relating a horror tale of life and death, the ranks said they were discharged from the army since last year without being informed that their salaries were ceased.
They said they have so far received no compensation and no follow up treatment for their injuries as today they are still plagued by illnesses; physical and mental, since the defence forces’ largest ammunition bond exploded in the early morning hours of December 18, with the men still asleep in the compound.
More recently, other Camp Groomes victims have come forward expressing “unfavourable treatment” being meted out to them and wishing to have their stories heard too.
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