Georgetown: The newly-appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Godfrey Bess on Wednesday said the military would only support a democratically elected government based on Guyana’s constitution.
“We are trained to support the democratically elected government of the day based on our constitution and that we will continue to do,” he said after being questioned about his support of the incumbent after receiving his instrument of appointment.
He noted that the GDF has always been subordinate to civil societies and maintains a supportive role to civil authorities.
When pressed further on his new role as Army Chief and the GDF’s support for any domestic political party that forms a Government but was not democratically elected, Brigadier Bess replied “the GDF is a professional organisation and we will stick to the Constitution of Guyana.
His comments come amid Guyana’s ongoing election impasse where after four months, Guyanese are still awaiting a declaration of the winner from the March 02, 2020 elections.
The new Army Chief received his promotion to Brigadier and instrument appointing him as Chief of Staff from President and Head of the Defence Board, David Granger at State House on Wednesday.
He replaces Brigadier Patrick West who has already proceeded on pre-retirement leave and was notably absent from Wednesday’s ceremonial activity. Brigadier West’s leave comes to an end in March 2021.
Brigadier Bess said he accepts the appointment with energy and intends to execute his duties as he is mandated by the laws to do.
He talked up training for ranks and the protection of the country’s patrimony and borders amid anticipation that there will be challenges.
That challenge he said is likely to be one associated with adequate resources to perform tasks.
“And what do we do? What do we do when resources are minimal? Our training that we receive helps us to create opportunities to fight against those challenges… so training in the Guyana Defence Force we take it seriously and it helps us in these times of challenges,” he added.
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