Stating that she was “privileged to have belonged to two noble professions,” Ann McLennan officially hung up her two hats as chief magistrate and a colonel of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) recently, having served for over 37 years.
According to a press release from the GDF, McLennan was fortunate to have been afforded the privilege, at a time when few officers were pursuing academics, to read for a law degree at the University of Guyana and in the Caribbean.
The release further stated that at a cocktail reception held in her honour, Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan, congratulated McLennan for her strong and dedicated service to the country.
Meanwhile, recollecting her years as an officer, McLennan was still delighted by her decision to enlist. “I thank God for bringing me through the rigours of the Standard Officer Course 17 and further, for allowing me to stand here today 37 years and 9 months later a satisfied officer, fulfilled and happy [with] the military career choice that I made back then in 1985, as a teenager …,” the release quoted her as saying to officers, soldiers, relatives and friends attending the event. She added that if she had to, she would do it all again.
“My success as a judicial officer, if I may say so, was only because I had this military foundation,” she said, according to the release.
McLennan was admitted to the Bar in Guyana in 1996 after gaining her Bachelor of Laws Degree (Hons) from the UWI (Cave Hill Campus in 1994, and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad in 1996. She later obtained a postgraduate certificate in Diplomacy from the University of Guyana. She returned to the GDF and held several appointments including Trainee Welfare Officer, Admin Officer Ground Forces Group, Personal Assistant to the Force Commander, Commanding Officer of Medical Corps and Legal Services Department, Staff Officer 2 within the G1 Branch and Staff Officer to the Chief-of-Staff, the release explained.
McLennan was enthusiastic to expand her legal career and give further service to her country, so permission was granted for her to be seconded to the judiciary to sit as a magistrate in the Georgetown Magisterial District. She was appointed chief magistrate in 2015, the release noted.
It added that McLennan served under ten of the 12 chiefs-of-staff since the establishment of the GDF.
She has lauded the progress of women in the GDF and made reference to them being paratroopers and serving at border locations as impressive strides. “Women have qualified themselves in almost every academic discipline alongside their menfolk in the force; lawyers, doctors, educators, chefs, football referees internationally at FIFA just to name a few,” she was quoted as saying. She encouraged the members of the Women’s Army Corps to continue to break glass ceilings.
According to the release, McLennan said she has enjoyed every moment of her career journey where endurance, patience and support from her mother and other family members were key factors. “I am grateful to the GDF and by extension each chief-of-staff under whom I served for believing in me and for their guidance and support every step of the way… my course officer Maj Pickering and the course principal instructors, one of whom is now the Honourable Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who was also a chief-of-staff, for believing that I was officer quality and seeing my potential,” she was quoted as saying.
McLennan, who also celebrated a birthday recently, proceeded on pre-retirement leave early last month, the release said.
