Government is set to launch a Defence Diplomacy Unit as Guyana ups its role on the regional and global fronts, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced.
At the Police Officer’s Conference on Thursday, he informed, “In the coming days, we will be launching a unit in the Office of the President dealing with Defence Diplomacy…because of the role we will be playing regionally and globally.”
The President went on to share that his administration will focus on utilsing the expertise of officers from the Disciplined Service post-retirement, since they leave the profession at their ‘prime’ with outstanding educational background and experience that can be leveraged.
“One of the weaknesses of the national system is how we utilize young men and women after we would have invested in them for years, giving them training and education and releasing them at the ripe age of 55. The members of our Disciplined Forces leave us at 55. That is when they are at their prime. They have acquired all the experience. Many of them, at this age, hold Master’s Degrees and PhDs but we lose them. We now have to find a reincorporation model into other aspects of national development,” he underscored.
In realising that some officers feel demotivated when it nears the end of their professional ‘tunnel’, he said the new Guyana will be looking at every officer and providing opportunities when they put the uniform to rest.
“Your next earthly life beyond this Police Force would be presented to you based on a number of things. It would be driven by your performance, fueled by your professionalism and most importantly, focused on your delivery. If you believe that you want to play a role,” Ali told the law enforcers.
These efforts form part of the administration’s strategic positioning, built through analytical capacity to advise policy makers.
“We must be able to present our independent thinking and analysis to support our regional and international partners as they support us also. The decolonization of ideas, concepts and theories requires reengineering the power of thought and in this new architecture, as we embrace our partners and work together to deal with global issues like transnational crime, trafficking, we must be able to present a new platform where we are thinkers and not just reactors,” the Chief of the Armed Forces stressed.
