MOVES to subvert the professionalism of the armed forces by the former People’s National Congress (PNC) regime, a retrospective view of the fight against crime in the last decade and the recent migration of ex-military officials to the political Opposition can be linked.And former president Dr Bharrat Jagdeo contends that the realisation that comes with making that nexus is worrying – more importantly it has implications for trust on the side of the Administration.
At a news conference held at Freedom House yesterday, he said: “In retrospect, I have a few instances that I can question…I am thinking that there was no real desire to go after the criminals, we were subverted…we could have avoided Lusignan and Bartica.
“…the day you (ex-military members) leave, suddenly you shift focus….they are destroying trust in the executive. How can the executive trust anyone in the future? How can the executive trust anyone to act professionally? That is what they have done. That is what I am opposed to.”
REAL FEAR
Dr Jagdeo expressed concern over a cyclical repeat of history if, “God forbid,” the alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) – headed by Brigadier (rtd) David Granger – comes to power after the May 11 elections.
“I believe that the army and police will come under serious pressure to go back to those days; and when illegal instructions come, like in the past, they will have to comply (contrary to the laws),” he said.
According to him, in the past “political commissars” were planted into the armed forces and executed the agenda relative to “party paramountcy” – in turn subverting the professionalism of the armed forces.
The former president added, “I know at that time what happened…I know also that the military was used to subvert democracy…and Granger’s personal involvement in that process…Granger has not changed, he is unapologetic about that past.I fear a return to that in the future with Granger there…I believe we will return to those dark days and I say to people guard against that…that is my sincere belief.”
According to him, the “language of fear and intimidation” is already being heard.
“I have no doubt they will subvert the professionalism of the army…they have a record, they did that,” he said.
Drawing a parallel, the former president underscored the efforts of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administrations in cultivating a high level of professionalism within the armed forces.
Successive PPP/C administrations, according to him, have never issued “illegal instructions” to the armed forces, compromising their professionalism – as was done under the former PNC regime.
“We sought to rebuild the army, the integrity of the army, the professionalism of the army. We never gave illegal instructions. We never asked them to come and support the PPP, as was done in the past when they had to pledge loyalty to the PNC that Granger defended,” Dr Jagdeo said.
He highlighted too that the appointments of Mr Winston Felix and Mr Gary Best, among others, who have endorsed the political Opposition were done under his tenure as president.
“If we were so bad, why didn’t they refuse to serve under the PPP? Why did they serve? If you want to talk about discrimination, it was five Afro-Guyanese who were appointed, and this is what they want to talk about,” Dr Jagdeo lamented.
On the other hand, he slammed the APNU+AFC alliance for their “sudden love” for the military.
“When he (Granger) was there he did nothing for the army,” Dr Jagdeo stressed.
NUMBERS SPEAK
“Let the numbers speak for itself.” A one-line defence was mounted by the former president as he also waded into the political Opposition for its ‘opportunistic’ profession of support for Guyana’s armed servicemen and women.
Producing a copy of the 1992 Budget, done under PNC finance minister Carl Greenidge, he pointed to the dismal level of resources that were allocated to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
According to him, in 1990, the amount allocated for Capital expenditures was a miniscule $300,000, while in 1991 it was 675,000, and then upped to $7M in 1992.
“Greenidge presented this to the Parliament. This is not the PPP…today they love soldiers so much and say that we discriminate against soldiers and that we are not doing enough and this is their record, shameful,”the former president said.
Presently, Dr Jagdeo charged that the annual salary of a private amounts to more than the annual capital expenditure in 1990. “You can check it yourself. Ask Greenidge about it…ask Granger because he was national security advisor at the time,” he charged.
Fast forward to 1999, the former president disclosed that the total budgetary allocation for the GDF was a whopping $1.5B, which was consistently increased to $6.6B – a $5.1B increase in the years that he was Commander-in-Chief.
“In the last five years alone, it (the allocation to the GDF) was 2,000 times more than the capital budget (in the 1990’s)…these are the men that so love the army today, but their record does not prove that,” Dr Jagdeo said
He added that the officer corps and the non-officer corps, as well as the prison, fire and police servicemen and women also benefited from other programmes where they received skills training or higher level education.
“Today to say that somehow I don’t respect military people, no, they had my full support…my support is reflected in the numbers,” the former president declared.