Amid accusations of torture and low morale among some junior and senior ranks in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Chief-of-Staff, Gary Best on Tuesday outlined to a number of low-level ranks that he would allow more of them to attend learning institutions. At the same time, he played down the brutality allegations levelled against the force.
Stabroek News was told that much of what the army chief told the ranks had been relayed at the officers’ conference on Thursday, which the media were debarred from covering. The conference was Best’s first as army chief and it came amid growing pressure on the organization over its continued failure to recover the stolen AK-47 rifles and the recent torture allegations.
Best has also outlawed relationships between members of the officer corps and junior ranks and alcohol beverages have been banned from the premises, well-placed sources in the military said. One senior officer confirmed to this newspaper that since the new hierarchy of the force has been installed a number of things have changed. Officers who had relationship with junior ranks were told this would not be tolerated. They were given the option of either ending the relationship or having one of the parties leave the institution, Stabroek News was told. It is not clear how many soldiers this new rule has affected.
This newspaper was informed that Best met with ranks at the level of corporal and private at the auditorium in Camp Ayanganna on Tuesday, during which time he asked them whether they knew the meaning of torture, while telling his charges that they should not believe everything they heard.
One corporal who attended the meeting told Stabroek News that Commodore Best had asked them whether when children were disciplined by their parents it was deemed torture. The corporal said one rank had then told the chief-of-staff that if children were mistreated by their parents it was referred to as abuse, but when soldiers were mistreated as a means of getting information it was torture.
The corporal said the army chief also told ranks about imminent plans to lay off retirees and civilians in the force, while increasing the number of Basic Recruit Courses per year. The army last year sent home a number of reservists and Best had told a media conference back in December that the soldiers were no longer needed. According to the corporal, Best said the army intended to train 500 privates each year, with a batch of 250 strong per course.
However, observers say that this would be difficult to achieve given recent allegations of torture being meted out to soldiers. “It is unlikely that people would want to join after hearing all those bad things about the force,” the corporal who spoke to Stabroek News on condition of anonymity said. Based upon information received by this newspaper more than 500 soldiers have deserted the military in the past three years. In addition, over 150 absented themselves without official leave last year, while over 250 had applied for struck off strength. The army is currently understaffed.
At a media conference in December, Acting Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Colonel Bruce Lovell said that the failures of the force last year were a signal that the new administration needed to make changes. He said the command climate would change as it often did in any change of command, but there was a need for profound changes – changes that impacted on the army’s culture and enhanced its professionalism. He also warned that this year would be a tough one for all who wore the army’s uniform, although adding that the nation could rest assured that the GDF would provide the level of security it deserved so that national development could continue unimpeded.
Meanwhile, Warrant Officer Torrington, who was the Base Commander at the time of the disappearance of the AK-47 rifle is the first person to be court-martialled for the missing weapon. A source close to the officer told Stabroek News on Friday that his lawyer, Leslie Sobers, at the commencement of the court proceedings had argued that his client had given a statement that was not free and voluntary. The court, which is being presided over by retired High Court Judge Winston Moore, is yet to rule on the issue.
President Bharrat Jagdeo announced on Tuesday that a Board of Inquiry had been set up to investigate the allegations of torture made against the GDF. He told a media conference at his New Garden Street office that his administration was taking the torture claims against the GDF seriously.
Jagdeo said the GDF was committed to investigating the allegations and the board of inquiry had already begun to interview the soldiers who had made the claims. Two Saturdays ago he told a reporter when asked to comment on the issue, “Don’t waste my time
