Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has ordered army Chief-of-Staff Commodore Gary Best to show why his decision to withhold the Christmas bonuses of some soldiers should not be deemed illegal.
The order by Justice Chang was made last Friday after four affected officers filed a notice of motion challenging Best’s controversial decision, which left some members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) angry at being denied the one-month bonus announced by President Donald Ramotar.
Best has been ordered to appear before Justice Chang on March 19 and unless he can show cause that his decision was not “unlawful,” he would be forced to have payments made to the affected officers immediately.
The four officers, who filed the motion through their lawyer Abiola Wong-Inniss, are: acting Major Lesley Ramlall, Captains Rono Joseph and Harold Fraser and Lieutenant Andre Cush.
In their supporting affidavit, they stated that some of the officers who were initially denied the incentive received payment in January. The officers said they were never formally informed of the decision to withhold the payment of their incentive and were never afforded an opportunity to be heard on the issue. They said their attorney advised that Best had no discretion or authority to withhold payment of the incentive to any member of the force, whether they had disciplinary issues in 2012 or not and that his decision was conceived in both perversity and contrary to the provisions of the Defence Act, Chapter 15:01 and should be quashed.
Ramlall and Fraser said that no charges were instituted against them, while Joseph said administrative action was taken against him for what was referred to as “inappropriate relationship with a female”. Cush said he was charged in the month of October last year with insubordinate behaviour but he is yet to be prosecuted and he has been advised that he is entitled to rely on his constitutional right of presumption of innocence.
Further, Ramlall in the affidavit indicated that in January charges were read to him in respect to allegations pertaining to the performance of his duties while attached to the Guyana Defence Force Credit Union in 2011, but they were never determined and last month he was again served with substantially the same charges as those previously read to him and they are still pending. Ramlall also said that last year he received letters informing him of decisions purporting to send him on administrative leave and suspending him from the committee of management of the force’s credit union, both of which he successfully challenged in the High Court.
He said after he was denied his incentive he sought the intervention of Colonel Bruce Lovell to resolve the issue but to date he has received no response to his letter.
The four said their attorney advised them that Best’s decision to deny them the incentive was illegal.
A number of officers who spoke to this newspaper late last year and earlier this year had complained of Best’s decision to withhold the Christmas bonuses.
Asked about his decision, Best had said that the bonuses of some officers were withheld based on their poor performance, while adding that similar action had been taken in the past. He had told this newspaper that the commanding officers of each division had submitted a list with the names of persons who had not performed well and should not receive bonuses. The lists included officers who were Absent Without Leave (AWOL), those who sold duty-free cars and those involved in accidents.
According to Best, he and a panel of his top officers reviewed the lists and if during the review process there were officers who the panel felt should receive bonuses despite their performances, then those names were pulled from the list, making them eligible for their gratuity. “…This is not a one-man show and it is not a task for the Chief-of-Staff,” Best had said.
However, subsequent to this a senior officer in the force–who requested anonymity–had said that specific individuals were singled out as officers whose names were not on any list had their bonuses withheld. The officer had also said there were persons who were listed for performance reasons but received their bonuses anyway.
He had said that after submitting the lists, commanding officers were called and asked about individual officers whom “the-powers-that-be” felt should have been listed and their names were later included.
The officer also made it clear that the commanding officers were instructed to prepare the lists and it was not a case of them taking it on themselves to prepare the lists. He had said that in the past, all members of the GDF received their one-month bonuses when announced by the Head of State in December.
“It is something you waited for in December, you waited for the president to announce it at the Christmas lunch,” the officer had explained.
Now, sources are questioning what would have happened to the funds that were denied to the officers and whether they were returned to the Ministry of Finance or whether they are being utilised in the force, which they say would be illegal. The sources noted that it is an issue that needs investigating.
