No righting of wrongs through the dangerous jaundiced eyes of ethnicity

Jun 29, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

It has to be the first time in the known history of the very senior echelons of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) that such senior a rank as a deputy commissioner of police has been sent on administrative leave pending investigations into allegations levelled against such a rank.
Indeed, these allegations are very serious, and if at the end of the current inquiry process now underway, it is found that they are credible, and substantive in both substance and proof, then it is expected that the necessary protocols are going to be activated, to have this officer removed from the police force.
However, there is an attribute, always noticeable, and which constantly reared its head in these particular situations, it seems, given Guyana’s polarized society.
One would have noticed the rush of comments from citizens in general, but more so from the East Berbice Corentyne, where this officer had once been based, demanding immediate action, after the whistleblowers’ revelation. The latter category must be commended; but the fact that they spoke out, is testimony to their awareness that there are ongoing efforts to create a new kind of police force, with one of the objectives being to remove corrupt elements from within its precincts.
Editor, it is the right of every law-abiding citizen, who believes that the law must at all times be upheld, and that those who are its sworn representatives, be seen to carry out this important imperative, be of the highest integrity at all times. In that regard, none must be faulted in this important demand of their police force, and its administrators.
However, it would seem that this expectation is subjected to ethnic consideration – which side of the latter is the alleged wrongdoer. I say this, without fear or favour, in referring to the case of the former SWAT Team Commander who was caught in a vehicle with what was reported to be contraband liquor, in a jurisdiction, at a time when he had not sought permission to be away from his city base.
As far as is known, there were steps taken to investigate this officer who, based on a press reports, seemed to have had enjoyed the benefits of the intervention of former president Ramotar, pertaining to matters of a disciplinary nature. The marked feature of this SWAT Team Commander’s matter was that during the early phase of investigation, there were numerous phone calls to the Minister of Public Security, requesting that “he be given a chance”, as reported by the former, in the media. However, there was never a voice that sought to question the conduct of that officer, much less to reprimand, despite the very strong evidence that pointed to an offence.
Editor, this is the dilemma of this kind of country where race is the measuring rod in determining which side of the divide must be excused or not. In fact, in the former SWAT officer’s case, even Anil Nandlall was objecting to the manner of the officer being sent on leave, citing that it was a matter that should have received the attention of the Police Service Commission. If memory serves well, that constitutional body was not in place at that material time.
To those, whose voices were raised, demanding that the allegations against Deputy Commissioner of Police Alves be investigated, they must be commended for their prompt social diligence. But their hypocrisy has been exposed to stifling stinking levels, as a result of their deafening silence in the case of the former SWAT Team Commander, and in other matters that involve former senior officials of the PPP/C.
No society, irrespective of whatever socio-political stresses that prevails, must adjudicate on matters that pertain to the integrity of its national senior decision makers, through the lens of obvious ethnicity. It is a wholly cock-eyed and dangerously jaundiced lens for seeking to correct the wrongs/corrupt practices that still bedevil our society. Further, it is a recipe for an ugly kind of state that is immoral.

Regards
Carla Mendonca

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