Minister of State Joseph Harmon is likely to face a series of questions on the Guyana People’s Militia at today’s sitting of the National Assembly.
Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira has submitted for inclusion on the order paper an Oral Question without notice about recruitment of persons into the Militia which was re-activated with effect from December 1, 2015.
Specifically Teixeira wishes to know the criteria and methodology of recruitment of persons into the People’s Militia; the number of persons who have been recruited into the People’s Militia in the last two years, the means by which these persons have been recruited whether via public advertisement in the media, in social media, or any other means.
Further she has asked for the numbers of persons by regions who have been recruited, the type and length of training that the recruits are being offered as well as whether recruits are receiving stipends, salaries or other benefits. Noting that the reactivation was announced on January 3, 2016 by the then Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Mark Phillips, Teixeira noted that Phillips had stated that the militia hoped to recruit an additional 1500 persons as reservists while Harmon had informed the House in response to questions that the Guyana People’s Militia was as in the past situated within the Guyana Defence Force as the 2nd Infantry Battalion Reserve and its budget was included within the GDF budget and administration.
President David Granger had also announced that the ‘reserve force’ – the Guyana People’s Militia – is being re-built in every administrative region. “The Militia is an essential arm of the Regional system. Each regional capital town will have its own unit, eventually, to enable it to respond more promptly to render assistance to residents in the event of emergencies,” the Commander-in-Chief announced at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Annual Officers Conference.
