Atherly concerned about politicising of army
Notes propaganda conspiracy
Stabroek News
May 13, 2003
Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Brigadier General Michael Atherly has expressed some reservations over the army’s continued role on the Lower East Coast noting that it risks becoming politicised.
“Our support for the police in the fight against crime on such a routine basis may have, in some circles, promoted the notion of the GDF as the guardian of internal order and social stability. It has also created the conditions, and I have noted with serious concern, the temptation of the army to become too politicised an institution at the centre of domestic strife. We must guard against all this,” Atherly told young recruits as he delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony of Standard Officers’ Course Number 36 (SOC 36) held at the Jaguar Lecture Hall, Camp Stephenson, Timehri yesterday.
He said the army had shown enormous restraint in its operations on the lower East Coast Demerara and had experienced low and high points. “We have also shot and killed and shot and injured persons.... Some sections of society criticised us some others praised us.”
He also remarked that the legal right to apply force to achieve legitimate national security goals demanded the cultivation of high moral standards, which could reduce the temptations of inappropriate use of that legal right.
“The use of force is always only temporary; it may subdue for a moment but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again...political, economic, social and humanitarian levers are useful for finding long lasting solutions.”
He said the army would always let professionalism prevail as it supports and promotes the national interest of Guyana over the internal interest of any particular sector.
“Professionalism must always prevail. Never be otherwise tempted. Only roles that seek to satisfy legitimate national security objectives should be assigned to the army.”
Touching on the army’s role on the Lower East Coast, Atherly pointed out that while the army was working hard within the limits of the law to support the police in the fight against crime, others seemed to be working equally hard through a centrally co-ordinated propaganda campaign to tarnish its image “for whatever sinister reason.”
He cautioned the officers that honourable and credible roles could help to draw the army out of functions that would otherwise lead it into politics and so harm civil-military relationships. Harmonious civil-military relations, he said, must form part of the bedrock of democracy in Guyana.
The Standard Officers’ Course Number 36, which is being conducted at the Colonel Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School (CUPOCS), commenced on Monday, March 17 with 24 participants including one each from the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service. However, three students have since opted to return to civilian life.
Apart from their primary roles in support of Security and Defence Policy, Atherly further told the cadets that GDF troops, through efficient training, ought to provide an important distinctive strand in the fabric of our nation.
“We must promote the ideals of integrity, discipline, professionalism, service and excellence. This, together with the important role of providing a constant source of well-trained and experienced personnel for society, could make a contribution to national stability and cohesion. The GDF must be seen as the stable band in society. Too many of our important national institutions are currently under threat of collapse.”
The Chief-of-Staff said to counter this threat, the army must embody and upkeep military tradition and he sees the GDF’s deployment and operations on the lower East Coast of Demerara as doing some harm in this regard.
Atherly also said that “recent incidents at Mabaruma involving the invasion of two civilian homes by soldiers stationed there may be a sign that the training of our young officers for border operation may require additional thought.”
Emphasizing the importance of training, Atherly noted that it was the “cardiovascular system of military service, which must always be of top quality and help to promote our public image, identity and character.”
He told the potential officers that while military service would demand more from them as citizens when they would have become commissioned ranks, they should not see themselves as part of an institution with totally different values to the rest of society.
According to the Chief-of-Staff, the GDF sets its own values only when it was necessary to do so by virtue of function and that the training was designed to inculcate such values in the Officer Cadets (OCDTs).
The SOC training was primarily concerned with converting civilians into military leaders who would serve with true faith and allegiance by preparing to kill or die for their country. The training of the current 24 recruits was planned and programmed in accordance with Force Policy and Force Doctrine and, “It will be a mistake of the first order for anyone to confuse rigorous and tough training with savage sadistic treatment,” a release from the army said.
It is Atherly’s opinion that the army must train to deal with future conflict situations and not simply to imitate the nature of past operations.
“The ever changing demands of national and international security and the volatility, uncertainty and complexity of future events must be kept in focus to allow us appropriate and forward looking training.”
Among those who attended the opening ceremony were the Second-in-Command of the GDF, Colonel Edward Collins and Commander Second Infantry Battalion Group (Reserve), Colonel Chabilal Ramsarup.
