President Irfaan Ali today urged Officers of the Guyana Defence Force and the wider Joint Services to urgently address issues of capacity and capability, explaining that the nature of the country’s defence mandate and architecture is changing.

Addressing the opening of the GDF Officers’ Conference this morning, the President said the National Defence mandate is extending itself to the defence of national policies that are important to national development, and now just territorial issues.

He said the Conference must come up with a clear strategy on people, capability and capacity.

“So, I want to see the clear strategy on people, capability and capacity. Our capability must be linked to our people and our people must be linked to our capability, there must be a clear gap analysis for the next 15-20 years of this Defence force and an orientation between people capability and capacity, what are we building the capacity for,” the President asked.

According to President Ali, while the GDF has been carrying out its mandate and the Government has been investing heavily in infrastructure for the Force, its focus must now change to address more pressing challenges.

“That is why people, capability and capacity must be addressed, what we are training for today or tomorrow? and let me say, that your training is not limited to defence priority, it is incorporated in national priority, that is why every single officer that leave here can easily transition into the national development sphere. You must be able to critically analyse and be part of a system in which policies are oriented,” the President urged.

Further, he said the changing structure of the Guyanese society should also engage the security forces, and issues of migration must be put under the microscope.

“We will have to deal with migration, mass movement of people, structural shifts in population within the country and coming into the country, cultural shifts and impact, when I spoke five years ago about the advantage of having Spanish as a second language, people raised their voices, what is the reality today, are we better off or worst off,” the President questioned.

The President said the GDF must also continue to look at the issue of partnership, priority, position and policy. He said the military must partner with others to establish a position, and to establish a priority and have those coordinated into policy, noting that tough questions must be asked and solutions found.

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