Ex-soldiers must be able to serve if found competent - President

President David Granger has declared that there is more to the militarisation of a state than the mere appointment of persons with military service to public posts.

He was asked on the latest edition of the Public Interest programme to comment on repeated concerns raised about the appointment of former military officers to civilian posts.

Given the example of Former Head of the Army, Brigadier George Lewis who now serves as Chief Executive Officer (ag) of the Georgetown Public Hospital, Granger said he had nothing to do with his appointment. He also noted that he had nothing to do with the appointment of the current head of the Central Housing and Planning Authority.

“These were not my nominees. They are Guyanese citizens and they applied. I have nothing to do with their appointment,” he told reports.

Granger stressed that the recruitment of former and serving military member for civilian posts was practised by several administrations before his own.

He identified Major General Joseph Singh, Major General Michael Atherly, Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup and Colonel Ann McLennan who along with others served in civilian posts during the Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar administration.

“We carried on a tradition and as far as I am concerned these are citizens and if they are found competent then they must be able to serve,” the president said noting that former PPP/C Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj had a military career.

Since 2015 when the APNU+AFC administration won the elections the opposition PPP/C has raised the spectre of the militarisation of the state.

In July 2016 the opposition issued a statement in which it said it was opposed to what it identified as “the growing militarisation of the State and Government apparatus in Guyana.”

The statement said that this tendency is increasingly manifesting itself under the Granger administration with a letter writer having posed the question whether; ‘being an officer or having once been an officer in the Guyana Defence Force offer a distinct advantage over the ordinary mortal of this country or is being an officer or having been an officer now a prerequisite for certain State appointments?’

“The Granger administration,” they maintained “has a penchant for placing retired and serving military officers in government agencies and departments and to head Commissions of Inquiry into one incident after another.”

They concluded that this practice was a demonstration of government’s distrust for civilians albeit qualified to perform such functions in contradistinction to military personnel.