Four officers of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), who filed a legal challenge to Chief of Staff Commodore Gary Best’s decision to withhold their yearend bonuses, have been relieved of their duties in the army until the determination of the court matter.
“In view of the recent events, namely court proceedings filed by officers against the GDF and given the serious nature of the matters, its implications, the avoidance of any conflict of interest which may arise, and to allow for the officers to pursue their legal matters, the Defence Board has instructed that they be relieved of their current appointments effective immediately, without prejudice to leave entitlements and pecuniary benefits, until the determination of their matters,” the GDF said in a press statement yesterday.
Stabroek News was told by sources that the officers received letters last evening informing them that they have been relieved of their duties in the force and not of their substantive appointments. This newspaper was also told that moves are being made to challenge the directive in the courts.
While the GDF did not name the officers, it was acting Major Lesley Ramlall, captains Rono Joseph and Harold Fraser and Lieutenant Andre Cush who, through their lawyer Abiola Wong-Inniss, filed a motion in the High Court challenging the decision by Best to withhold their bonuses.
The directive by the Defence Board came days after the four were granted a nisi order and acting Chief Justice Ian Chang has ordered the army chief-of-staff to appear before him on March 19th to show cause why his decision should not be quashed. Their suit was filed against Best and not the GDF as was stated in the release.
A number of GDF officers had expressed anger at the decision of Best to deny them their –one-month bonus, which was announced by Commander-in-Chief Donald Ramotar last December.
In their supporting affidavit, they stated that some of the officers who were initially denied the incentive received payment in January. The officers said they were never formally informed of the decision to withhold the payment of their incentive and were never afforded an opportunity to be heard on the issue.
They said their attorney advised that Best had no discretion or authority to withhold payment of the incentive to any member of the force, whether they had disciplinary issues in 2012 or not and that his decision was conceived in both perversity and contrary to the provisions of the Defence Act, Chapter 15:01 and should be quashed.
A number of officers who spoke to this newspaper late last year and earlier this year had complained of Best’s decision to withhold the Christmas bonuses.
about his decision, Best had said that the bonuses of some officers were withheld based on their poor performance, while adding that similar action had been taken in the past. He had told this newspaper that the commanding officers of each division had submitted a list with the names of persons who had not performed well and should not receive bonuses.
The lists included officers who were Absent Without Leave (AWOL), those who sold duty-free cars and those involved in accidents.
According to Best, he and a panel of his top officers reviewed the lists and if during the review process there were officers who the panel felt should receive bonuses despite their performances, then those names were pulled from the list, making them eligible for their gratuity. “…This is not a one-man show and it is not a task for the Chief-of-Staff,” Best had said.
However, subsequent to this a senior officer in the force, who asked not to be named, had said that specific individuals were singled out as officers whose names were not on any list had their bonuses withheld.
The officer had also said there were persons who were listed for performance reasons but received their bonuses anyway.
had said that after submitting the lists, commanding officers were called and asked about individual officers whom “the-powers-that-be” felt should have been listed and their names were later included.
The officer also made it clear that the commanding officers were instructed to prepare the lists and it was not a case of them taking it on themselves to prepare the lists. He had said that in the past, all members of the GDF received their one-month bonuses when announced by the Head of State in December.
