The military has commenced court martial proceedings against one of its ranks over the disappearance of a single assault rifle last year November, but questions are being asked why two senior officers, a Lieutenant Colonel and a Captain have not been similarly treated.
Lt Col Windee Algernon who was the Base Commander at the time of the disappearance of the weapon and Captain Andy Pompey who was the adjutant had both been relieved of their duties and sent on leave. However, the two have since been reinstated, with Algernon now a Staff Officer 1 General responsible for welfare matters of the force, while Pompey has moved over to Staff Officer 2 at the G-2 Branch. Warrant Officer Torrington who is the lone officer to be court-martialled so far was the Base Sergeant Major at the time and according to sources, he is no more culpable than Algernon and Pompey as they all shared almost similar responsibilities with respect to the issuance of weapons.
Torrington’s court martial began last week and so far three officers have testified against him. The Warrant Officer is being represented by attorney-at-law Leslie Sobers.
A series of events have occurred since the single AK 47 rifle went missing, with several officers being relieved of their duties and some being handed over to the police during investigations. Additionally, more than three soldiers complained about being tortured by officers of the army’s Military Criminal Investigation Department during interrogation over the missing weapon.
Following the disappearance of the weapon on December 2 last year the GDF announced that it had removed Algernon, Pompey and Torrington from their posts and remanded another eight soldiers into police custody. In addition, several others who worked as duty officers and orderly officers, the GDF had said, were to face serious disciplinary action immediately for failing to supervise the base security personnel during their tour of duty over the period that the weapon went missing.
A number of soldiers had been reduced in rank as a result of the incident while some salaries were cut. The loss of the AK 47 was seen as a major embarrassment to the new GDF high command coming in the wake of the shocking disappearance of 30 of these weapons the previous year and a consequential shake-up in the GDF hierarchy. The military had said that “standing orders provided for daily checks at the arms store and it was evident that those checks were not done because if they had been, then the weapons would have been discovered missing earlier.” The army had also warned that some army personnel involved in the fiasco leading to the missing weapons would have been court-martialled.
Speaking to Stabroek News last Friday an army source said concerns had been expressed as to why Algernon and Pompey have not been court-martialled. “I want to know if the senior officers are exempted from these things?” the source asked. Torrington according to reports has been charged for neglecting to supervise properly the arms store causing the disappearance of the weapon. However, a source explained that as Base Sergeant Major, Torrington’s role in the issuance of weapon is limited. Stabroek News was told that when soldiers working on guard duty require weapons they would report to Torrington, who would then issue them with a form, which is taken to the arms store. At the arms store the man in charge would fill out the form, detailing the serial number of the weapons issued and the calibre. The form is then taken to the Adjutant or the Base Commander for an authority to issue the signature. Once this is done, the arms store officer would make entries of the weapons being issued, to whom and the serial numbers into a ledger after which the respective soldiers would sign and uplift same.
The source argued that given the procedure, Torrington was as culpable as his seniors- Algernon and Pompey, noting that in the particular case, it was Pompey who signed authorizing the issuance of the rifle to Sharth Robertson. The army had said in a statement it was quite clear the missing weapon was not a matter of a system failure, but a clear case of army ranks at all levels failing to adhere to the standard operating procedures that govern their duties. “There is clear evidence of officers and ranks using short cut methods to curtail their duty requirements as the evidence shows that serious breaches and short cut methods are very prevalent in the force,” the army statement said then.
President Bharrat Jagdeo while bemoaning the loss of the rifle had praised the army for taking swift action in the matter. Senior sources have confirmed that other soldiers would be court-martialled for the loss of the weapon, one of them likely to be Robertson, to whom the weapon was issued.
Robertson, Michael Dunn and Alvin Wilson had accused the GDF of brutalising them during investigations over the missing weapon. A board of inquiry was commissioned to investigate the claims and it is believed that a report has already been submitted and is being studied at present.
