Military in government
A letter appeared in this newspaper on Thursday which relayed an account of conversations between lawyers and former senior GDF officers in the diaspora about the need to seek a modification in the role of the army and a change in the law so it could “assist in investigations and other crime-solving activities.” This, it would appear, took place in a context of what was perceived to be an escalation in crime, and the need for more law enforcement officers.
The problem with the diaspora, of course, is that it often lags behind the local public in terms of its feel for immediate events, and such is the case in this instance. Apart from the fact that the police have claimed that the incidence of bandit-type offences has decreased in recent times – which has a certain ring of truth about it at an anecdotal level, although the figure is still far too high – one has to wonder what exmilitary officers think they can bring to an investigation for which their training has ill equipped them. One cannot imagine they believe they could do any better than Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum and the CID officers, who for the first time in many years are apprehending suspects on a regular basis.
What one wants is a police force which functions effectively, not army personnel on the streets who know less about police work than their counterparts in the Guyana Police Force. And what about corruption in the force? Would the military personnel working with the police have a beneficial effect on the latter, or would the police corrupt the army? But all of this is pointless rumination; what the reported diaspora conversation does reflect, however, is an attitude that is mirrored by some locallybased persons who have, or have had, connections to the GDF: namely a sense that military people have the discipline and proficiency to make this malfunctioning society of ours work.
One can understand how this sentiment arose in the first instance. For obvious reasons the army is a rigidly hierarchical institution, not given to long-winded discussions, and except in limited, clearly defined circumstances, consultations either. Democratic norms have no place in the everyday operations of the GDF; that is a world which functions on fast decision-making and resolutions conveyed in the form of orders from above. The legal framework is clear and straightforward, and indiscipline has immediate consequences.
Officers and former officers must look at the muddle that is the civilian world in which the rest of us function, and feel that if they were placed in strategic positions they could make