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Guyana Defence Force gets ninth Chief-of-Staff
A promotion ceremony for Colonel George Lewis was held in the
Executive Room of the Officers Club, Base Camp Ayanganna yesterday where he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He was also sworn in as the ninth Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The President of Guyana and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Brigadier David Granger, after the badging ceremony, said that the Guyana Defence Board (GDB) is confident that Brigadier Lewis is the most senior and best qualified officer to perform the function as Chief-of-Staff. The promotion and swearing in were done in accordance with the succession policy of the GDF.
The President stated that the Chief-of-Staff of the GDF has an ambiguous mandate which requires him – within the law – to apply his military education, his military expertise and his military experience to protect the citizens and defend the territorial integrity of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana in accordance with the Defence Act under the authority of the GDB and in accordance with the directive of the Minister.
The President congratulated Brigadier Lewis on behalf of the Guyana Defence Board on his promotion and on his appointment to the position of Chief-of-Staff.
Brigadier Lewis was enlisted in the force as a cadet on September 01, 1981.
The new Chief-of Staff during an interview, said that obtaining the position was one that he was working towards since he enlisted, and now it has been achieved.
Brigadier Lewis was asked what would be some of his immediate goals for the army at this stage, to which he responded, “Well you know our mandate is to provide border defence. We have some challenges there which we definitely have to work on and it may involve some amount of recapitalisation, acquisition of new equipment, we’re in discussion with the Guyana Defence Board. We have indentified the issues and we’ll be working to resolve them.”
The President also thanked the outgoing Chief-of-Staff, Mark Phillips, on behalf of the GDB for his service as Chief-of-Staff from August 2013 to October 2016. He was enlisted in the force as a cadet on September 22, 1980.
Brigadier Granger said that the Defence Board is satisfied with Brigadier Phillips’s service to the nation; and more recently with his conduct in executing Operations Greenheart and Home Guard.
Brigadier Phillips, who is retiring after serving more than three decades, was asked what it was like being a solider all his life to which he responded with a smile, “That is the only thing I wanted to do in my life.”
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