Caretaker President David Granger on Thursday demanded loyalty and obedience to superiors in the hierarchy of the Guyana Defence Force in the execution of their duties and to, among other things, support and defend the state against all enemies whomsoever in upholding the preserve of the Constitution of Guyana.
This, according to Granger, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
The 25 Ensigns who were each promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant
He was at the time presenting Instruments of Commission to newly commissioned officers from the GDF’s Standard Officers’ Course No. 51 for 2020 at the Colonel Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School.
Granger, in addressing the newly minted officers, reminded that the Commission is unique in that it is an official certificate issued only by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Addressing the ranks, Granger said the instrument “appoints a person to high office, conferring on him (or her) the authority to exercise the functions of command in the GDF.” He said, “The Commission distinguishes the officer from the non-commissioned officer and the private soldier”.
According to Granger, “The State Commission and Instrument of Commission are not merely certificates to mark the successful completion of a training course”, since they constitute the lawful licences to exercise authority as military officers.
Prefacing his charge that the officers abide by their oath of office, Granger iterated that “the State Commission demands trust, loyalty and good conduct on the officer’s part. It requires the exercise of diligence, discipline, and dedication in the discharge of his duties.”
According to the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Presidential Candidate in the still-to-be- concluded General and Regional Elections, the instruments require an officer to “demonstrate obedience to his superiors, to demand compliance from his subordinates, and extend cooperation with his compeers.”
The GDF’s de-facto Commander in Chief, in his address, challenged the officers to uphold the oath which they have sworn, that “I…will bear true faith and allegiance to the state of Guyana; that I will support and defend the state against all enemies whomsoever; that I will faithfully discharge the functions of an officer in the Guyana Defence Force without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, and that in the discharge of those functions, I will honour, uphold and preserve the Constitution of Guyana.”
According to Granger, “I challenge you to uphold the Force’s five core values – duty, discipline, identity, integrity and loyalty”
The de-facto Army Commander, in concluding his remarks, “required” of the newly commissioned officers conduct in consonance with the GDF school’s ideological training: of loyalty to superiors and state, in addition to “discipline and steadfastness”, among other maxims.
