Army slams report over elections preparations
The Guyana Defence Force last evening slammed reports that it was preparing for general elections in June.
“The Guyana Defence Force is alarmed by a recent News Room publication dated 15th Jan, 2019, titled, “Army preparing for elections in June,” which suggests that the Force is in preparation for National Elections in June,” the GDF said in a release.
“The Guyana Defence Force wishes to advise the public that we have not authorised any such release or made any such pronouncements. The Guyana Defence Force is aware that we are not the authority for specifying
the date and or time by which elections should be held,” it added.
Army sources yesterday confirmed that it had sent out correspondence on Monday to top officials to prepare for elections by and not in June.
“What the correspondence said basically was that given the atmosphere, you know, the No-Confidence Motion, the court matter, that the two sides could decide on a date and all of that , elections is in the air and that it is time to prepare because all of that could happen between now and June,” one source explained.
According to the army’s release, “Any Force will always have intelligent anticipation of tasks likely to be undertaken. These tasks once identified are issued to the subordinates as “Warning Orders” alerting them to the nature of the probable tasks and should not be misconstrued to mean anything else.”
Newsroom quoted from the letter which said “triggering new elections for no later than June, 2019” and reported that the army was preparing for elections in June.
The Guyana Defence Force stated that it “has always respected the rule of law and due process, and will continue to maintain a professional Force which contributes to the development of the nation.”
At the Guyana Police Force’s recent Police Officers’ Annual Conference, its preparing for elections was also discussed. The Police Force has similar training for Eday and the army’s letter stated that the GPF will be the lead service during the process.