says President Jagdeo as he announced bonuses for members

COMMANDER-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday urged the disciplined forces to play their part in changing the country while executing their duties with respect and honesty.

The President also announced a Christmas bonus for the Army and other disciplined forces which was greeted with thunderous applause from the ranks at the Army’s Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown, at the traditional ‘Soldiers’ Day and Christmas lunch in the auditorium.

Speaking to the ranks just after returning from the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Head of State alluded to the performance of the disciplined forces.

“When I spoke with you last year and the year before that, I said that we would have to link your performance with remuneration and I plan to continue to do so,” he noted.

“Some of the incidents that we have seen this year have really tarnished the image of the disciplined services that we have been so significantly trying to rebuild,” he observed.

“However, this was done largely because of a group of people out there who can’t differentiate between isolated acts and the institutions; so I have always asked that these forces, the disciplined forces, professionally execute their duties,” he stated.

President Jagdeo said the disciplined forces must execute their duties with dignity, character and strong values in mind, including respecting human rights.

President Jagdeo serves a rank at Ayanganna.

“But when you have transgressions, and there will be transgressions now and in the future, we have to deal with these; but it doesn’t mean that we will forget what the institution stands for, and I say, to some of those people who constantly seem to think that soldiers and policemen can’t do anything right, that often it is these people who stand between us and the forces that try to destroy our society,” he stated.

He continued, “And they need to recognise that that these institutions have a valuable place in our society and on the whole, they present a valuable public good to society.”

The Commander-in-Chief assured that the transgressions will be dealt with, pointing out, “But I will not succumb to the critics out there and blame the army and the police for everything. So with that in mind you are going to get your bonus this year.”

However, the President reminded the officers that there are still challenging times ahead and stated, “This is a beautiful country. This is our homeland. This country represents our dreams, our opportunities; and it will only fulfill those expectations if we make it so.”

President Jagdeo hands over the Best Table trophy to a female rank.

“We all have an important duty and work to play in the future. Each of us has a very important role to play in changing this country, and what kind of society do we want – we want a society at peace with itself, a society where our people are not judged or differentiated based on how they look or what they believe in, but by the fact that they are Guyanese,” he exhorted.

He went on, “A society where we can take care of the elderly with compassion and the vulnerable among us – that is the kind of society we aspire to.”

“A society that rewards hard work because we are not going to get to the place where we want to be as a country, and in each family, unless we do so through hard work and unless we ensure that every single day we add wealth to this country, not decumulate wealth,” he stated.

“We are going to face all kinds of challenges – global challenges, local challenges, political challenges and economical challenges; but if we keep our eyes on the prize of where we want to be and we have the energy, the commitment, the enthusiasm to pursue that pathway – I am convinced that this country will realise all of its expectations.”

President Jagdeo addresses ranks at Soldiers Day

“So I ask you, like I have asked for so many years, to play your part, do so honestly, respect the uniform that you wear. Every time you do something that is illegal and you are a soldier or a policeman, it is even worse because of the uniform that you wear. The uniform must mean something to you and to people in our country,” the President urged.

The Commander-in-Chief said that when young children and older people see the uniform – they must see respect, dignity, honesty and hard work.”

He encouraged the officers to take time to develop themselves further and study hard, noting, “Because you have a duty to yourselves, to your families, to everyone to improve your circumstances, and you would only do that if you improve your knowledge.”

“The Chief-of-Staff will create the opportunities for you to do so…at the end of the day you have a broader view of this world, not just some military view,” he insisted.

“I have seen many soldiers leave the army and because they were only good soldiers, at the end of the day they don’t have anything else to do and it is tragic because our country should respect and provide opportunities for those people; but sometimes our economic circumstances can’t allow us to afford it so you have to change that too…,” he noted.

Touching on the global economic challenges during the year, he recalled that the world has lost 30 trillion dollars of value in one and a half years.

He said the stock exchanges around the world collapsed with many currencies depreciating and house prices falling significantly.

The President noted about 20 million persons around the world lost their houses and another 50 million people lost their jobs.

Turning to the region, he alluded to the collapse of CLICO and the tourism industry reeling from the impact of the global crisis.

He cited the example of Antigua and Barbuda who cannot pay wages and salaries in its public sector, and has defaulted on its debt.

He stated that Jamaica has seen its currency depreciated significantly and the country which had four alumina plants that contributed about 58 per cent of merchandise exports saw three of the plants “shut down because of the global crisis and fall in global demand”.

“I just give you two countries (but) almost every country in the region has some difficulty with meeting payments now, excepting probably Trinidad and Tobago, which has significant oil wealth; so it has been a rough year for the world, a rough year for the region,” he concluded.

Adding, “Here, too, in Guyana, we have seen some deviation from our original growth rate; but fortunately, because of the accumulated work that we have done for a very long while in getting rid of our debt, creating more fiscal space, and because of our creative approach to the taxation on fuel – we have not seen any major shrinkage in our revenue.”

He reiterated that the economy has “managed to fairly stay afloat” and has not seen any crash in housing prices or people losing their homes.

“In fact, I have seen a situation where the New Building Society (NBS) now has reached its limit because it has lent so much out for mortgages, and it can’t go beyond 66 per cent of its assets,” he stressed.

The President noted that the commercial banking sector was recently given tax free concessions on loans up to $8M, adding, “So that they can lend to people at a very concessional rate because I want the housing construction to continue in the country.”

He said a few huge projects that are going to transform the country have moved forward this year, including the financing deal for hydro power and the opening of the Takutu River Bridge creating a new growth pole.

“Fortunately, our economy has not faced these ravages that we have seen around the world,” the President reiterated.

“Now what happens if the recession is prolonged? If the recession is prolonged, we may face some consequences. We have already seen some reduction in remittances coming to our country; but if the world continues to be where it is now, where it does not have any dynamism, then we may in the future face some of these consequences,” he warned.

The Head of State stressed, “So we are very cautious about 2010. We are optimistic about it but we are managing our resources carefully.”