Prime Minister Brigadier (retired) Mark Phillips responds to Mark Archer

Dear Editor,
I write in response to Mr. Mark Archer’s letter published in the Stabroek News (December 18, 2024), in which he attempts to discredit the remarks of Lieutenant Colonel Earl Edghill, Aide de Camp (ADC) to His Excellency President Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
Mr. Archer’s letter amounts to nothing more than a rhetorical ambush, and more so an exercise in firing speculative shots in the dark while grossly misinterpreting the ADC’s role and launching unwarranted attacks based on flawed reasoning and deliberate misrepresentation.
Lieutenant Colonel Edghill’s statement was not, as Mr. Archer alleges, a political declaration, but was rather a precise, factual account, which in military parlance would be termed an after-action review, meticulously outlining the efforts undertaken to bring relief to the Warrau people who were shamelessly misled and exploited for political gain by the APNU+AFC.
This intervention was a reflection of the ethos of service and accountability which underscores the principles of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and its officers.
Mr. Archer, in an astonishing display of intellectual indolence, accuses Lt. Col. Edghill of violating longstanding ethics, yet his argument reveals a glaring ignorance of the ADC’s duties and responsibilities.
The GDF remains resolutely apolitical, and Lt. Col. Edghill’s remarks reflected neither allegiance to a political entity nor a breach of military tradition, but were instead a candid exposition of the hypocrisy and dereliction of duty by those who abandoned the Warraus after manufacturing a spectacle for their personal and political benefit.
What Mr. Archer has engaged in here is nothing short of diversionary tactics. It is a poorly orchestrated smokescreen to obscure the stark failures of the APNU+AFC and their hollow rhetoric, which evaporated as soon as the cameras turned away. His baseless accusations are an ill-conceived attempt to politicise the issue while deflecting from the opposition’s historical neglect of vulnerable communities.
One would expect better from Mr. Archer, given his familiarity with military traditions; but instead, he opts to fish in the dark, blindly grasping for any excuse to undermine the credibility of a decorated officer whose only “offence” was to deliver a truthful account of the Government’s actions. Ironically, it is Mr. Archer’s reckless and unfounded claims that risk tarnishing the very institution he purports to defend.
The Government of Guyana’s commitment to the Warrau people is not performative, nor is it contingent on the presence of cameras or the whims of political expediency. It is an expression of our unshakeable philosophy of inclusive governance, where no community, no matter how remote or marginalised, is left behind.
This administration’s interventions are tangible, deliberate, and enduring, unlike the fleeting theatrics of the opposition.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Archer would choose to descend into the realm of baseless conjecture and petty criticisms, instead of contributing to meaningful discourse. His missteps only serve to highlight the absence of substance in the opposition’s agenda, which seems more intent on sowing division than on addressing the real issues facing our nation.

Sincerely,
Brigadier (Retired)
Mark Phillips, MSM
Prime Minister of the
Cooperative Republic
of Guyana