Retirement Entitlement in the Armed Forces- Captain Alhajie Kanteh

By Captain Alhagie Kanteh

Dear Editor,

Please allow space to briefly respond to the brilliant piece by Mr. Ebou Conteh on the important subject of retirement in the Armed forces as practiced in the Gambia and in the British and US military. Mr. Conteh has rightly pointed out that the military is governed by procedures based on Armed Forces regulations. In the Gambia we go by what is known as the Gambia Armed Forces Act (GAFA 84) .

Just like the enlistment criteria separating Commissioned Officers from Non-commissioned Officers(NCOs), so too is the issue of retirement. For the purpose of clarification, Commissioned Officer rank starts with Second Lieutenant all the way to four star General. The four levels of General are: General; Lieutenant General; Major General and Brigadier General, in reverse order. From the very junior officer ranks of 2Lt and Lt, immediately follows Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel.

In the GNA, NCOs are enlisted to serve for an initial period of six years in colors and another six years in the reserve. On completing the colors a soldier may opt to extend his service for another 6 years depending on his eligibility for further service. But no matter how long a soldier may serve for, his service could be terminated on one of 4 grounds, namely: at retirement age; on voluntary retirement having completed a term; on medical grounds and on disciplinary grounds. In any of these cases a soldier does not walk away with the title RETIRED. He or she could be appropriately referred to as EX- Sergeant, Corporal etc., but not Retired Sergeant Major as the case may be.

In the Officer echelon too 2Lts and Lts do not retire and so they don’t deserve the title. Like NCOs they too walk away with a simple EX, no matter how many former Lieutenants place the prefix Rtd before their names. That is the reason why unlike Captains, Lts are required to return to the Quartermaster all their gadgets including ceremonial uniforms.

However like Mr. Conteh pointed out, a discredited officer or an officer dismissed with disgrace does not deserve the "Retired" title nor can he refer to himself as one. In these unregulated state of affairs people can call themselves whatever they wish.

Suffice it to say, the fact that a retirement is not conducted in a festive mood or ceremonies does not nullify the validity of a proper retirement. Every Armed Force is different in some way. As for how long an officer should serve before retirement depends on a few conditions and type of commission. In the GNA all officers fall under one of the following types of commissions: Regular Combatant; Short Service and Quartermaster, depending on for example age, qualification, or length of service among many criteria. Due to time constraint I am not in a position to explain this in detail I have helped in the clarification process. I stand to be corrected on any mistakes or flaws I might have caused .

Once again I thank Mr. Conteh for his clarification on this important issue Retirement within the military.

Editors note: The author was the former Army Spokesman in The Gambia. Information provided by Capatin Kanteh will no doubt in our mind help to end the controversy regarding former retirees. Thanks Captain Kanteh for setting the records straight. We are still waiting for the interview you promised to work on. Perhaps, when that interview is published, Jammeh and co would know that there are former officers interested in exposing the truth. It's only the truth that can set us free as a nation.

To brother Sam Sarr, we say don't quit writing because of the critics. It's healthy to see people reacting to your pieces. This goes to show that people are reading your pieces. Only cowards will quit the writing field.

A good author must be ready to face criticism. Unless, you want to prove to Gambians that you are a dictator, otherwise you should accept well founded criticism. Gambians want to see your reaction. Ebrima Conteh, Saul Khan and others have spoken, we are patiently waiting to see Sam's side of the story. We careless if you send such reactions to Freedom or not. All what we are interested in is to hear your own side of the story. Silence means guilt and we do not want to pronounce you guilty. Sam should explain!!!

Anytime, the Freedom Newspaper turns out to be the mouth piece for the rich, the corrupt, the selfish, haters and past genocidal perpetrators, we shall as well shutdown the operations of this leading paper. We rather close Freedom than to allow this paper to dance to the tunes of the corrupt and enemies of free speech. We believe in equal treatment. The public interest supersedes personal interest.