President Bharrat Jagdeo urged ranks of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to conduct themselves with dignity and they will in turn earn the public’s respect as they strive to develop a peaceful society.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, in his address at the annual luncheon held at Camp Ayanganna on Monday the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces urged the soldiers to play their part. “Respect the uniform that you wear. Every time that you do something illegal and you’re a soldier or a policeman, it is even worse because of the uniform that you wear. The uniform must mean something to you and the people in our country. When young people and the older people too see the uniform they must see respect; humility; honesty; and hard work,” he added.
He also told ranks, “This is a beautiful country. This is our homeland. This country represents our dreams; our opportunities and it will only fulfil those expectations if we make it so. We all have an important duty in the future. Each of us has a very important role to play in changing this country.”
The president urged ranks to think about the kind of society that they would like to see developed.
He said, “We want a society at peace with itself; a society where our people are not judged or differentiated based on how they look and what they believe in but on the fact that they are Guyanese; a society where we can take care of the elderly with compassion and those vulnerable among us.
That is the kind of society that we aspire to; a society that rewards hard work because we are not going to get to the place that we want to be as a country and in each family unless we do so through hard work.”
Jagdeo said the incidences of unprofessional conduct by some members of the joint services during the year have tarnished the image that “we have worked so hard; so significantly to try to rebuild.” He also said that “political commentators have created a toxic image of the joint services because they cannot differentiate between isolated incidents and the overall good of the security institutions.” He said all transgressions will be dealt with “but it doesn’t mean that we will forget what these institutions stand for and I say to some of those people who constantly seem to think that soldiers and policemen can’t do anything right; that often it is these people that stand between us and the forces that try to destroy our society and that they need to recognize that.”
