PARLIAMENTARIANS ON Tuesday objected to a request from the Chief of Defence Staff Major General Stewart Saunders for a special ceremony to laud soldiers who were overlooked for national honours and awards.

The army chief had written to Major Richard Reese, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, expressing displeasure that the National Honours and Awards Committee did not accept the nominations.

The ceremony took place in October.

Saunders, in his letter, asked that a special ceremony take place before the end of the year to recognise the soldiers the army recommended for honour.

However, members of the committee warned against the suggestion, which was re-routed from the desk of Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

"The prime minister has not made any recommendation. It is just a referral because he felt, no doubt, that our committee might be the best place for this matter to be discussed," Human Resource and Social Development Committee Chairman Dr Fenton Ferguson said.

Special ceremony

It was not clear how many army men Saunders wanted to be honoured in the special ceremony. What was clear, however, was that Parliament was in no mood to march in tandem with the army chief.

"Let the record not reflect that we believe an error was made," Ferguson said.

He told the committee that though there were many suggestions countrywide about who was deserving of glory, the National Honours and Awards Committee reserved the right to accept or reject the nominations.

"It would be opening up a can of worms, which you don't need at this time, especially with national honours and awards," Ferguson said.

The chairman received support from Natalie Neita-Headley, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, Ronald Thwaites, Gregory Mair, Colin Fagan and Michael Stern.

For Bartlett, the tone of the correspondence sent to the prime minister was almost an arm-twister.

"What I am getting from the letter is that recommendations were made, and 'who dare you reject those recommendations? You should have accepted those recommendations, and so what we want you to do is to accept them and have a special ceremony'," Bartlett said.

"We would have opened a precedent here so that individuals who were recommended and not approved could go another route to get approval and then have some type of ceremony for these individuals," Bartlett said.

Fagan regarded Saunders' letter as a means of protest and warned that it could open the floodgates for similar complaints.

Dangerous precedent

"It is a dangerous precedent if we go this way. We have to be careful that we are not setting a precedent that will come to haunt us in the future," Fagan warned.

Similarly, Mair, the representative for North East St Catherine, said Parliament should not approve double standards in national awards.

"Whoever serves in whatever areas of our nation, at whatever level and in whatever capacity, if they are going to be recognised, it must be under the same system, procedure and structure," Mair said.

Thwaites asked Ferguson to make it clear in his letter that "it is effort and achievement, but more effort than achievement, that bring the accolade of honours to you".

He said that the message should be clear that neither rank nor length of tenure in the constabulary or military was a prerequisite qualification for being accorded national honours.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com