The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has debunked a front page article in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News entitled “Major shake-up looms in army” and has labelled it as `misleading, sensational and alarmist.’
And the army says it has asked the newspaper to present evidence to substantiate the claim since its hierarchy is unaware of any impending shake-up in the GDF.
The article indicated that the army was preparing to court-martial one of its top officers over the theft of several of the army’s AK-47 rifles.
The news item also said “Kaieteur News understands that the rank, a lieutenant colonel, faces disciplinary action over the theft of several of the army’s AK-47 assault rifles. The officer was head of a department at Camp Ayanganna when the weapons disappeared. He has since been transferred.”
The article said too that officials confirmed that the army’s top brass was preparing to make major changes to the investigative team that was set up to recover the army’s stolen weapons which included a lieutenant colonel.
However according to a statement from the army’s public relation department issued yesterday, “the headline and accompanying article is not only misleading for the falsehoods it contains, but it is also sensationalist and alarmist in nature as it is seemingly meant to erroneously create in the public’s mind the perception that there is instability in the senior leadership of the army.”
The army added that “should that perception take root it can certainly evoke undue public alarm in the midst of the prevailing peaceful and tranquil environment that the GDF and other members of the joint services have fought valiantly over the past months to forge”.
Against this background the army said it wished to categorically and resoundingly debunk the falsehood in the article which stated that a top official from the team investigating the missing AK 47 rifles is being removed because the army’s top brass is dissatisfied with the results in recovering the missing weapons. Page 2 STABROEK NEWS, Wednesday, January 10, 2007
The army, in the statement, justified its movement of several officers holding various appointments in the force, as “purely and simply an annual exercise that is done to facilitate the career development and professional growth of every officer”. The statement further said that to assign any other reason for this movement was to engage in the realm of speculation.