President defends role in army

Jun 04, 2019 News

The Ministry of the Presidency has come out to clarify the role of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the affairs of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
In a letter to the editor dated June 2, 2019, published in the Kaieteur News and headlined, ‘Too much presidential meddling in the daily affairs of the GDF’ written by what the ministry said is an unnamed “concerned junior officer”, the ministry said it suggests that since taking office in May 2015, President David Granger has been acting outside of his remit as Commander-in-Chief.
“The Ministry of the Presidency wishes to make it pellucid, that the Head of Government, since Independence had been Chairman of the Defence Board and Minister of Defence; his duties are detailed in the Defence Act, Chapter 15:01 of the Laws of Guyana,” the Ministry pointed out in a statement Sunday.
It was stressed that over the years, there has been organisational neglect which caused the destruction of the National Cadet Corps and the near extinction of the GDF Reserve Force- the Guyana People’s Militia.
“Additionally, it is a known fact that defence operations and training had been neglected during the former administration in the years 1992-2015. Since taking office, there have been regular annual exercises such as Exercise Greenheart and Exercise Ironweed which were restarted under this administration.
“It should be noted that the President in his private capacity, before entering office, compiled a book ‘Values and Standards of the Guyana Defence Force’ in the wake of the murder of persons in the Essequibo River by members of the Coast Guard.”
The ministry insisted that since 2015, there have been a plethora of changes in the GDF, including improvements to the Basic Recruitment Course. Officers are now being trained in equitation to enable them to conduct horse-back patrols.
“The GDF has been able to acquire engineer’s equipment from the People’s Republic of China to build roads. (The army) conducts maritime patrols not limited to Operation Ocean Guard aimed at continuous aerial and maritime surveillance of the coastline and territorial waters have increased and have led to the suppression of piracy.
Also, operational deployment along the country’s western border has been strengthened under Operation Armadillo which was launched to respond to threats posed by criminal gangs along the borders and to protect the country’s frontline villages.”
The ministry said that the operation has resulted in a reduction in reports of assaults by foreign ‘Sindicato’ gangs and has since reinforced border security.
“It should be noted that all of the changes have been made on the direction of the GDF Board and is a full direction of the Chief-of-Staff to improve the efficiency of the Force. Had there not been changes to the GDF, it would be deemed a dereliction of the President’s duty not to correct the bad practices which have damaged the reputation of the Force.”

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