President pleased with Army’s newly announced initiatives- pledges support

Georgetown, GINA, April 08, 2008

Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday expressed satisfaction following Acting Chief of Staff Colonel Bruce Lovell’s announcement that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is in the process of formulating a project that will see youths of depressed communities becoming empowered.
            The President’s comments came during his address to farmers at the launching of the national pig-breeding programme, a joint project between the Ministry of Agriculture and the GDF.
            Additionally, Lovell, in announcing that of some 393 youths who wrote the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) or Common Entrance examination, only 68 had passed, pointed out that this has resulted in the Army formulating the initiative to reach out to the unsuccessful candidates and conduct remedial classes with them so that they can later pass the examination.
            “As we seek to shape the national security environment, we will be engaging in what we call strategic partnerships with several governmental and non-governmental agencies. This strategic partnership will see us collaborating with agencies for the provision of training for our ranks and, in some instances, the agencies along with our ranks, training and equipping our youths with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to better empower them,” Colonel Lovell told farmers at the forum.
            The Army’s involvement in the pig breeding programme was labelled as being part of the national economic security strategy as the Region is currently facing food shortages.

President Jagdeo with Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, Acting Chief of Staff of the GDF, Colonel Bruce Lovell and other officials during the launch of the national pig breeding programme yesterday

            “Food security, as an aspect of economic development will certainly contribute to overall national security,” the Acting COS said.
            Alluding to Lovell’s statements later in his address, President Jagdeo said he was pleased with the Army’s involvement in the project.
            He noted that the Army has several roles which need to be played equally and that it is the entity’s role to also support national development as well as to safeguard the country at the borders and to assist the civilian powers.
            “That’s why they have an engineering corps too and they have this wonderful facility here (the GDF farm). The Army has a lot of smart technical people and we have an abundance of skills. When you look at the leadership of the Army, you rarely would find in any other institution of the State, qualified people, and with the discipline that the Army has,” President Jagdeo added.
            The President said though the Army plays a role in assisting in  crime fighting, he does not want the soldiers to be seen as only crime fighters.
            “You must also see our soldiers involved in activities to support people’s lives and this is why we are going to fund those programmes that he spoke about-going into the communities and tackling our young people.”
            He also reminded the gathering that Government has set aside $100M in the 2008 budget to support single mothers.           

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