THE days of Guyana’s armed forces being used to “hijack ballot boxes and perpetuate electoral fraud” on the nation is still fresh in the minds of the Guyanese people, according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee.And speaking at a news conference yesterday, he charged that there are “strong indications” that decision-making in the political Opposition, the Alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), is being “hijacked” by a small group of ex-military officials aligned with the party.

“(This) is already creating much unease in the AFC and the civilian component of the APNU. The PPP is alarmed at the growing body of former military and police personnel who are taking up key and strategic positions in the hierarchy of the APNU-AFC coalition,” he said.
The PPP General Secretary is the most recent official in the ruling party’s leadership to express concerns over the “militarisation” of the political Opposition, when considered in the light of past excesses when the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was made to pledge allegiance to the then People’s National Congress (PNC) regime.
PROOF OF MILITARISATION
The last person to express similar concerns was the Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who last Friday noted that successes made by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administrations since 1992 in rehabilitating the image of the armed forces are under threat. According to him, divorcing the “injurious” levels to which the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was taken by the former People’s National Congress (PNC) regime and the current influx of ex-military officials into the leadership of the political Opposition is a difficult endeavour.
According to him, the fact that APNU received some support from ex-military officers in 2011 is different from what obtains in 2015.
As such, he disclosed that the current Administration has “concrete information” of the militarisation of the political Opposition, the alliance of APNU and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
Dr. Luncheon said, “When I show you the details that we have about the involvement of retired military in the leadership, not only the rank and file, but in the leadership of APNU+AFC coalition, I think you will have to agree that 2015 is a different kettle of fish than 2011.”
In addition to the APNU+AFC leader, the other senior ex-military and police officers that are now “ensconced” within the political Opposition are Lt. Col. Joseph Harmon, former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix, Brigadier Edward Collins and more recently the immediate past Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Gary Best.
“No one has repudiated that, because they know what I know, that I got the information, they know that…we have to accept the impact and the significance of this act,” he stressed.

WOOING EX-MILITARY
In light of recent political goings on, Rohee said, “Granger (APNU+AFC leader Brigadier (rtd) David Granger) for his part is doing everything possible to woo ex-military personnel by all manner of preposterous campaign promises such as a twenty percent salary increase which is twice the amount promised to other categories of public servants, including teachers and nurses.”
According to him, the development is “especially” troubling.
Rohee added, “The question that should be asked is why is he singling out those in the armed forces for special treatment? Is it an indication that the military cabal in the APNU-AFC leadership is already calling the shots and signalling its intention to redistribute the national pie in its favour?”
According to him, Guyanese also need answers to other related questions.
He questioned, “Is it an attempt by Granger to once again militarise the body politic as happened during the dark days of PNC authoritarian rule?
“Are we to expect a return to the days of PNC party paramountcy when the army and police were forced to pledge loyalty not to the nation but to the ruling PNC?
“Is our democracy under threat by a military and quasi-military cabal who seems more concerned with the return of a decadent and authoritarian order in which bullets and not ballots were used as the basis for governance?”
The PPP General Secretary stressed that Mr. Granger has to explain the role of the ex-military personnel in the leadership of APNU+AFC in an effort to abate the concerns of the Guyanese people.
“The PPP calls on Granger to explain to the nation the precise role these ex-military personnel in the run up to, and on polling day, given their relative inexperience and lack of familiarity with our national politics,” he said.
Rohee also underscored the fact that the APNU+AFC leader, in his capacity also as the leader of the PNC, has yet to apologise to the Guyanese people for his party’s excesses.
“Granger owes this nation an apology for the role played by the army for the rigging of elections and the death of the two ballot box martyrs on the Corentyne whose only ‘crime’ was to defend their right to vote in free and fair elections. Granger was Head of the Army at that time,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Rohee reiterated the current administration’s commitment to building strong, disciplined and professional armed forces, where loyalty to country and not party will be the only reason for their being.