Dear Editor,
In his response to a letter to the editor written by a ‘concerned junior officer’ of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), President Granger, through the Ministry of the Presidency, instead of addressing what appeared to be legitimate concerns raised by the junior officer chose to take aim at the PPP/C administration.
As Commander-in-Chief (CIC) of the GDF Mr. Granger is expected to attend to all areas of concern, including welfare issues of both serving and retired ranks of the army.
The President’s response came across as a dismissal of the legitimate concerns of a junior officer who had no alternative but to bring his concerns to the attention of the public. They appear to be matters that ought not to be thrust aside as whimsical pieces of folly.
The nation is at a loss to know whether the concerns raised will ever be addressed. No mention was made that they would.
For the most part, under the PNC, the GDF’s role in operations remained limited while policy formulation remained vested in the Defence Board and/or the CIC himself.
Since independence, the CIC post has always been occupied by a civilian. In the current situation David Granger, a former Commander and a retired Brigadier now combines both President and CIC.
Ever since the Burnham era, the post of Chief of Staff remains the top career post in the GDF however, instances of influence peddling and political manipulations aimed at undermining the authority of the Chief of Staff became a hallmark of civilian rule under the PNC and now under the APNU+AFC coalition government.
The challenge the CIC faces is how to maintain a healthy and sustainable balance between civilian and military interests when it is an established fact that for most of his entire adult life Mr Granger has been in the military.
With a retired Brigadier as President and CIC maintaining such a balance will prove untenable and difficult to maintain.
In his response, Mr Granger took some digs at the PPP/C administration claiming; the force had suffered from years of organizational neglect, which caused the destruction of the National Cadet Corps and the ‘near extinction ‘of the GDF Reserve Force (Guyana People’s Militia).
Mr Granger must know that the members of the GPM are drawn from the public and have regular jobs. Under pressure from the IMF’s Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) and within the meaning of affordability, the Hoyte administration was compelled to incorporate the GPM into the GDF making it the 2nd battalion of the army.
The Guyana National Service (GNS) shut shop in 1991 under the Hoyte administration. In 1993 the GNS was de-commissioned and in its place a vocational training centre was established at Kuru Kuru at the Linden-Soesdyke Highway to facilitate one-year training courses minus military component.
The organization had become unsustainable because of the high costs of maintenance.
On its assumption to office, the APNU+AFC administration continued with the vocational training at Kuru Kuru.
With respect to the ‘destruction of the National Cadet Corps’ this was instituted by the PNC as a uniformed service mainly at Queen’s College but it was recently re-introduced by the Granger administration
By the time the PPP/C came to government in 1992, the Cadet Corps had virtually disappeared so there could be no question of its ‘destruction’ under the PPP/C administration.
In its 1992 Elections manifesto the party stated: ‘‘Members of the army and police will be required to swear allegiance to the State and not to any political party. The Guyana National Service will be maintained on a voluntary basis and the Guyana People’s Militia will be transformed into a truly democratic reserve of standing army.’
As regards the claim of ‘defence operations and training being neglected during the former administration in the years 1992-2015.’ This should be regarded as a red herring. The records would show that in this area, training exercises especially at the unit and corps level were carried out every year, while jungle and open country exercises were held every three years.
Following Mr. Granger’s assumption to office, instructions were issued that jungle, open country and internal security training exercises, be held every year instead of every three years.
Call it re-capitalization or re-tooling the fact of the matter is that recapitalization of the GDF was initiated under the PPP/C administration with the purchase of the MV Essequibo, two Bell 206 helicopters, a Y12 fixed-wing aircraft, metal shark vessels, the return to serviceability of the Skyvan, and placement of a floating marine base at the mouth of the Pomeroon River.
In any event, Mr. Granger must know just as he opted as a matter of policy, that emphasis must be placed on the administrative and operational aspects of the army, in the same way, the previous PPP/C administration was within its right to determine its areas of emphasis within the meaning of the Constitution and the Defence Act.
It is to be recalled that during the Presidential Commission inquiring into the conditions of Veterans from the Guyana Defence Force; The Guyana People’s Militia and the Guyana National Service mention was made that service conditions in the army prior to October 1992 were not conducive to the welfare of service men and women of the GDF.
The period of heightened economic uncertainty characterized by Guyana’s uncreditworthiness had wreaked havoc within the institutions constituting the joint services.
Mr Granger is being obtuse when he claimed that the military was neglected for years under the PPP.
Comparative budgetary allocations for the GDF below speak for themselves:
LAST FIVE YEARS UNDER THE PPP/C
Current. Capital
2011:6,100,745. 453,000,000
2012:6,323,710. 452,000,000
2013:6,785,776. 601,500,000
2014:7,272,801. 653,452,000
2015:8,609,057. 536,400,000
Total:35,092,057. Total 2,096,352
LAST FIVE YEARS UNDER THE PNC
Current. Capital
1988:100,931,000. 0
1989:149,113,000. 0
1990:156,765,000. 0
1991:322,803,000. 0
1992:507,322,000. 0
Total:1,236,934,000. 0
While in opposition, Mr. Granger had pressed for implementation of the recommendations contained in the Disciplined Forces Commission Report. And on assumption to office he commissioned the COI into the conditions of Veterans from the GDF, the GPM and the GNS.
He has since dumped these recommendations and moved on with an entirely political agenda.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
