President assures at army commissioning...
Work advanced on national security strategy
By Nivedta Kowlessar
Guyana Chronicle
November 27, 2003
President Bharrat Jagdeo decorates Second Lieutenant, Ayodele Woolford, with his badge of rank at yesterday's commission parade at Camp Ayanganna Drill Square, Georgetown. He is assisted by Army Chief of Staff, Michael Atherly and other officers. (Winston Oudkerk photo).
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said he expected work to be advanced on a comprehensive national security strategy, which will subsequently be made public.
"I expect that with the full participation of the leadership of the disciplined forces, that the national security 'think tank' will advance its work on (the)...strategy," he said while addressing a Guyana Defence Force commissioning parade.
Ten ensigns of Standard Officers Course #36 were decorated with badges of rank at the hour-long ceremony on the Camp Ayanganna Drill Square in Georgetown. Eight are now Second Lieutenants in the Army and two, Cadet Officers in the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Prison Service, respectively.
President Jagdeo said it was important that they be informed about some of the administration's positions on the role of military, noting its "reverence for building professionalism in the disciplined forces."
This has been highlighted in the Government's submission to the Defence Forces Commission, mandated to investigate the Army, Police, Prison and Fire Services.
Government representatives have insisted professionalism is "the only sure remedy" for maintaining public confidence in the forces and the President hoped the Commission would "address positively" the administration's recommendations.
He said he expects the Commission to "create the environment" in which the new officers would be practicing their careers over the next decade.
The Government has reiterated its commitment to institutionalising, at the level of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Affairs, the review of the Army and its strategic plan, and promotion of better civilian-military relations.
It has also documented its concerns about optimising the benefits that accrue from expenditure on the disciplined forces, so as to "protect and maintain a wholesome, well-coordinated and managed internal security environment," President Jagdeo said.
He reported that the Defence Board has been grappling with the development of a more appropriate and comprehensive approach towards training for service in the forces and after.
The Board is also examining ways of creating within the disciplined forces, an environment more sensitive to, and equipped, to deal with the ethnic diversity of its composition.
President Jagdeo expressed profound gratitude on behalf of the Government and the nation for what he described as the "selfless performance" by members of the forces in combatting the scourge of crime and violence.
This year has been instructive, he said, as countries confront the rising tide of criminal activities in diverse forms and extremes of violence; narcotics trafficking and money laundering; arms and alien smuggling; terrorism; extortion and kidnapping.
Increasingly organised criminal networks have been carrying out trans-border criminal activities, harming national development in small Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states.
"Crime and violence have created distortions in our developmental processes, stifling investments and promoting national insecurity and discord over the ensuing socio-economic difficulties," President Jagdeo said.
"In Guyana, the resort of the criminals to violence under arms has sorely tested the administration and law enforcement agencies, traumatised our families and communities and threatened the wholesomeness of their social and economic relationships," he added.
The Head of State also noted that CARICOM nations are "ill-prepared to undertake in anything but slow, deliberate and measured paces, the rigours of full-scale (trade) liberalisation."
Some are contending with the ensuing, devastating socio-economic consequences, such as the loss of jobs and collapse of industries, as they are unable to cope with overwhelming competition and the loss of preferential markets.
"Those are the downsides to which developing countries are exposed, and diligent efforts in partnership with the developed countries would be needed by us to prevent our succumbing," President Jagdeo said.
Second Lieutenant, Ayodele Woolford, was the best graduating student yesterday. He copped six of the eight awards - Best Student, Sword of Honour, Best Drill, Military Knowledge, the Brazilian Armed Forces Prize and Venezuelan Armed Forces Prize.
The others in the batch were Second Lieutenants, Ganesh Shew (Runner-up to Best Student); Troy Cordis (Best Shot); Charles Bradford; Patrick Elliott; Michael Mc Lennan; Rawle Blake; Cranston France and Cadet Officers, Kurleigh Simon of the Guyana Police Force and Gladwin Samuels of the Guyana Prison Service.
The parade was conducted under the command of Captain Trevor Bowman and witnessed by Government officials, diplomats and well-wishers.