President Granger charges GDF Officers to display professionalism

—reminds of role in protecting country’s territorial integrity  

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, June 24, 2020

His Excellency David Granger on Wednesday charged twenty newly commissioned Officers of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to continue to display professionalism at all times.

“I charge you to ensure continued adherence to your professional values and standard and enhancement of the force’s capability and in your service to our citizens, to our country and the Caribbean,” the Head of State said.

He was at the time delivering remarks at Standard Officer’s Course 51 graduation via video conference at the Colonel Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School (CUPOCS) Lecture Hall at Base Camp Stephenson, Timehri.

President Granger told the graduates that as Officers they must embrace the five values of duty, discipline, identity, integrity and loyalty.

“Duty, obliging them to display dedication in the performance of their function. Discipline for maintaining organisation cohesiveness, identity determining how officers relate to their comrades of the corps and the country. Integrity prescribing honesty in officers’ relation with their superiors and subordinates and loyalty binding officers to the service of their country,” he stated.

The course began in June 2018 and saw 25 of 54 students graduating to the rank of Officers after withstanding rigorous training. Among the officers are two from the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, one from the Belize Coast Guard and another from the Jamaica Defence Force.

In his remarks, the Head of State reminded that the country is set to experience unprecedented transformation and that the GDF will play an important role in protecting the country’s patrimony, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The GDF he said has been organised and equipped to enable it to become a more professional organisation; and over the next 10 years, training will be intensified as personal education and expertise are essential to improving leadership and stewardship.

President Granger spoke of the critical role the Officers will play in protecting Guyana’s borders taking into consideration the ongoing controversy with neighbouring Venezuela.

That case is slated to be heard in the International Court of Justice on June 30, 2020.

Guyana is seeking to obtain a final and binding judgment from the Court that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding, and that the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela.

President Granger noted that Guyana “expects a favourable outcome that will assure future generations of territorial security of their homeland.”