Attorney General and Secretary to the Defence Board Anil Nandlall has rejected claims that the Government has politicised the Armed Forces, particularly the Guyana Defence Force.

It was Opposition Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir, who during a debate in the National Assembly last week, called out the government for developing what she considered to be a strange relationship with the GDF.

Walton- Desir, during that debate said that the morale of the GDF is at an all time low. She was particularly upset over images which surfaced on social media recently which showed the President hand-feeding Senior officers of the GDF.

But during his weekly “Issues in the News” television programme, Mr. Nandlall rejected the allegations that the GDF is being politicized. 

“So, I want as Secretary of the Defence board to reject absolutely the allegations made by Walton-Desir in the parliament, in relation to the governments attempts and the President’s attempts at politicizing the force and undermining the professionalism of the force,” the AG stated.

Last Friday, the Government piloted the Defence Amendment Bill, which amended the title of Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force to Chief of Defence Staff.

Mr. Nandlall said the GDF’s loyalty is to the Constitution and not the Government.

“In bearing loyalty and pledging allegiance to the constitution of Guyana, that defence force must not necessarily pledge allegiance to the government of the day, though it must support the government, its allegiance and its loyalty are not necessary to the government of the day but to the constitution to which that loyalty is pledged,” Mr. Nandlall stated.

According to the AG, the Government has never sought to undermine the independence of the GDF and that the GDF and the Armed Forces in general are in a better place.

“There is no time in our country’s history, that the Guyana Defence force is as professional as it currently is. There is no point in time in our country’s history when the Guyana Police force has been more resourced that it is currently is. There is no time in our country’s history in my respectful view, that the morale of the Guyana Defence force has been higher that it currently is,” Mr. Nandlall said.

The primary mandate of the GDF is to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state. There have been some concerns about the chumminess between senior Government officials and some senior Officers of the GDF. The President has often spoken of some senior officers being loyal to him.

Related posts:

Guyana Opposition rejects Venezuela’s new law claiming Essequibo as null, void and of no legal effect Eleven new Officers commissioned for Guyana Defence Force Attorney General rejects “private arrangement” claims between Nandlall and Ramotar for law books purchase Guyana to deploy additional troops and equipment to border regions in response to Venezuela’s armed forces build up if need arises