Opposition to debate its claim of APNU’s “militarisation of the State” today

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is set to commence a debate on what the Party deems as the A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) “militarisation of the State”, an issue the Opposition has been expressing concern over since the new Administration took office.

Former Presidents Donald Ramotar and Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also the current Opposition Leader; PPP’s General Secretary Clement Rohee; former Cabinet Secretary under the PPP Government, Dr Roger Luncheon; former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall; and political and economic commentator Ramon Gaskins have been listed as the panelists.

The discussion will be held today at the Sleepin Hotel on Brickdam, Georgetown.

Recently, PPP’s General Secretary Clement Rohee said the Party continues to have growing concerns over the “militarisation” of the State and Government apparatus in Guyana by the coalition Administration.

“This tendency is increasingly manifesting itself under the Granger Administration, coupled with this development, is the steady but rapid progression of our country in the direction of a “Police State”. This dangerous and unwelcomed development has its historical antecedents in the Burnham era of which Mr Granger is a product,” Rohee had said.

He pointed out that what the “pro-militaristic administration” has done by virtue of this practice is to demonstrate its distrust for civilians who are qualified to perform such functions in contradistinction to military personnel. Also by moving in this direction, it seems Government has “outfoxed” the Alliance for Change (AFC), he said, by placing its military confederates in key and critical positions knowing that the AFC would be more inclined to nominate civilians to the said positions which, he asserted, the APNU has absolutely no interest in doing.

“The PPP is of the view that the rise of the APNU/AFC sponsored Police State will inexorably result in the decline of freedom in Guyanese. Under the PPP/C, Guyanese abided by the rule of law and successive PPP/C Administrations were held accountable for their actions,” said the PPP/C General Secretary, adding that since the election of President Ganger and his coalition in May 2015, several retired Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Officers have been appointed in key advisory positions within the Government.

Additionally, a number of soldiers have been seconded to work in the Defence Secretariat at the Ministry of the Presidency, where they are required to wear their uniforms. The Ministry of the Presidency recently announced that Colonel Nazrul Hussain would head the Department of National Events, after a series of bungled arrangements for Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. A number of Army officers have also been appointed to a number of State Boards and other civilian positions.

The PPP’s concerns were renewed last week after two Army officers were recently appointed to head two Commissions of Inquiries.

However, while the Opposition is bent on this stance, President David Granger, himself a retired Army Chief-of-Staff, defended his Administration’s appointments of the military men to the high profile positions.

“These are human beings, these are people with skills, you know. They are not a separate breed of citizens, we can’t deprive them of their rights if they have the talent, the experience, the qualifications,” the President said at a recent forum.

He said his Administration is facing the brunt of criticism on militarisation when the mass appointments of Army officers to senior Government positions began under the Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar led Administrations.

In fact, he disclosed that when he took office in May 2015, there were about 10 Army officers who were appointed under the PPP/C Administration.

The President even listed several of those persons including Major General Joe Singh and Colonel Chabulall Ramsaroop, among others.

Moreover, Granger went on to say that he will not overlook qualified Army officers because of their association with the military. “I don’t discriminate against them and obviously Mr Jagdeo and Mr Ramotar didn’t discriminate against them because I inherited a large number of former military officers who have been appointed by the PPP Administration,” he stated.