President Irfaan Ali on Friday made good on a pledge to award university scholarships to three soldiers stationed at Kaikan in Region Seven.
Ali, who had joined Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks stationed at Kaikan and residents of the border community for Christmas lunch a week earlier, had asked the soldiers to select the three most eligible ranks from amongst themselves to be given University of Guyana scholarships.
On Friday, during the annual Christmas Lunch at Base Camp Ayanganna, the Office of the President said, he presented Corporal Ryan Jordan, Lance Corporal Nikolai Moore and Private Michael Yarde with the promised scholarships.
In addressing the GDF ranks, Ali said that the scholarship presentation was the tip of the iceberg and that the soldiers will benefit from many other opportunities moving forward.
He pointed to the significance of giving them the power to select their peers, which he said will contribute to empower the unit to make decisions collectively. He also stressed that this approach will help to foster an environment in which ideas could be shared through constructive and strategic discussions.
“We have set aside a special number of training opportunities… this time it is not top down, this time the units will select who they believe is not only most qualified, but who they think should be given the priority. This is the way we are going forward.”
Meanwhile, the Office of the President said Ali also reiterated that the GDF will be able to be part of a special programme to ensure that the soldiers benefit from the 20,000 scholarships that the government will be making available for citizens.
Additionally, in order to better facilitate them, he noted that that a system will be set up to have the ranks select scholarship awardees based on merit and performance. “We have some exceptional talent, great brain power in the Guyana Defence Force but we have to utilise that talent and our brain power for national development. And I’ll assure you this is the direction we are going to go towards,” he was quoted as saying. He stressed that the ranks will become part of the national security architecture and will be utilised to give logistical support to the government.
“I want to assure you that we have already started the discussion on how we can make things better, and whilst I have had a lot of this discussion at the top, be assured that in the coming year I’ll be visiting all the units to hear from you, to listen to you and to understand your perspective on the improvement of the Guyana Defence Force,” he added.
