Change of command in the Army
MAJOR General Joe Singh has passed the baton of command in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to Brigadier Michael Atherly and has taken up another key position in a continuing critical period for the young nation. His retirement has capped a long and distinguished military career and we take this opportunity to congratulate him on his fine achievements in the military and to sincerely wish him success in his equally challenging undertaking in civilian life. We also congratulate Brigadier Atherly on his promotion and wish him all the best in his new post. As he left in a moving ceremony at Army headquarters in Georgetown Thursday afternoon, Brigadier Singh pointed to perhaps the major challenge ahead for the Army and the administration: "As I hand over to my successor Brigadier (Michael) Atherly, I hope that his tenure will firstly be blessed with a revolution in the minds of our leaders to ensure that our diplomatic efforts are backed by adequate defence capability, or we'll be like an orchestra without instruments". No orchestra is worth much without instruments and with the very real border challenges facing the country, the political administration has to make some hard choices in re-appraising the allocation of scarce national resources taking national security concerns into consideration. President Bharrat Jagdeo pointed to the problem at a news conference earlier this month after the border dispute with Suriname flared June 3 when he urged the media to help Guyanese to begin to understand that national defence and security were as important as pressing social issues like better water, roads and other basics. The reality, he noted then, was that international donor agencies do not and will not allocate aid funds to purchase military hardware and countries like Guyana have to weigh carefully how and to what they allocate resources. In other words, if the budgetary allocation to the Army is increased, other sectors like housing, sea defences, water, roads and health will have to be cut in some form or another. Education, for example, has the biggest chunk in this year's national budget and there can be very little argument against this given the rundown state the sector was in for many years. Given these very real national constraints, it has not been easy and will not be easy in deciding how much will be allocated to which area but some hard choices have to be made. We know the government has been addressing the issues with the seriousness these deserve and have no doubt the right choices will be made. A time of change is as good a time as any for meaningful reappraisal.
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