Latest update June 16th, 2026 12:40 AM
The Police and Probity
Probity, we are told is associated with virtue, honesty, integrity goodness and decency. The latest contretemps in the upper ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) only reinforce the public’s firm conviction that such words cannot be associated with that institution. And this is not just a pity: it is a tragedy for our country. Of all the institutions of the state, the police have the most ubiquitous presence among the citizenry. For all intents and purpose, it represents the state for the ordinary man and woman.
And it is for this reason when the police are discredited, the state itself is discredited and those that have been chosen as governors of the state must act expeditiously and condignly to rectify matters when such a state of affairs has come to pass. The government cannot brush aside the allegations from one of the highest officials of the GPF – an Assistant Commissioner no less – that police ranks and officers that he identified are working hand-in-glove with identified members of the drug trade.
Reports of such linkages have long circulated even among ordinary folks: Guyana, after all, is a very small society. One political leader has now revealed that the US State department has long been in possession of such information and in fact passed such information on to the government. This leader has made bold to declare it was the studied and deliberate refusal to act on such information that led to the revocation of the visas of the Minister of Home Affairs (MOHA) and the Commissioner of Police (COP) by the US. The latter revocations have been common knowledge but the reasons were left in the realm of speculation and gossip. Now we have a clear assertion that, unless refuted by facts, would have to be accepted as truth.
While both the COP and the MOHA have referred to investigations of the allegations initiated by the GPF, the public can be excused for being sceptical of the reach and outcome of such investigations, when the latest assertions by the senior political leader implicate both of the head honchos. In this instance, the Force cannot investigate itself: public confidence will remain irretrievably shattered and, as we have implied, eventually the very legitimacy of the state will be eroded.
We suggest that the administration must not descend into defensiveness as is it is prone to do. Rather it must see the revelations as an opportunity to clean the Augean Stables into which the GPF has been transformed by what initially must have been a few bad eggs. With the extraordinary amount of money generated by the drug trade, it is not unreasonable to assume that those eggs have replicated wildly. And it would also not be unreasonable to assume that those policemen out of the loop of the largesse of the drug dealers have seen it necessary to conduct the quotidian shakedown of the public that is the source of the wide discontent.
We suggest that two interrelated steps be taken. Firstly, a Commission of Inquiry that is independent of the Police Force must be established forthwith to deal with the charges of collusion between law enforcement officers and the drug dealing fraternity. Such a Commission must be composed of eminent and qualified Guyanese drawn primarily but not exclusively from the Law and Order community and from across the political spectrum. For the duration of the Inquiry, the MOHA and COP must recuse themselves from the performance of their official duties.
Secondly, and just as importantly, there must be a commitment from all the political actors for the recommendations of the Disciplined Forces Commission Report to be implemented within a given time frame. We believe that this matter is so important that the opposition should rethink its position on not attending the extended parliamentary session and to do so to place it on the agenda.
We realise that we are on the eleventh hour of General Elections but surely all the parties should be committed to not just the reform of the GPF but on deepening the legitimacy of the state.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.