H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – A memo to the Top Cop, crime chief and special branch head

Nov 01, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – Vehicles. Manpower. Time. Resources. All being the property of Guyanese taxpayers, and deployed against this taxpayer. This should be anger; it is simply regrettable, wasteful. It is more than barking up the wrong tree, for there is no tree worthy of the keen attention inside this perimeter of the local landscape.

GHK Lall

To be unsparingly frank, it is a waste of scarce resources. Given the situation, I now do my duty as a citizen and offer some free advice to His Excellency, the Commissioner of Police (see I have discarded the acting), the Crime Chief (taken officially and not literally), and the head of the Special Branch (nothing special about this Guyanese, sir). To all three remarkable officers and gentlemen of Guyana, I say most solemnly: the precious resources of the State can be more gainfully distributed.

Before the Top Cop, I assert and insist that I am a law-abiding citizen, more than most in the Cabinet, probably the police itself, and even the judiciary. So, why all the attention for a poor, citizen that is a nobody? To the Crime Chief, I present an early Xmas gift: I am no criminal sir. Not by any stretch of the imagination, not by any clean consideration, not by any provision in the law. Now, if speaking out for the voiceless, and standing up for conscience and what is right count as crimes against the State today, then I am guilty as charged, more than a person of interest; definitely a serial offender; an unreconstructed recidivist against whom the book could be hurled.

Before the Special Branch Chief, I make this simple oath: I, sir, am a Guyanese. I am not a Venezuelan. Incidentally, Special Branch boss, I hope that that Holy Bible that I once saw and commented on is still in close proximity, and also still considered to be holy. Sir, I am neither mole nor plant nor sleeper. Oh, by the way, that Spanish speaking man that I was speaking to early on Sunday was someone who was in need, and seeking some food. It was how I interpreted the situation, and how I followed up. No evil intent on either side of that chance encounter and conversation with a total stranger.

Now, it is my rough task to pen what may be interpreted as a terse memo to the Commissioner, the Crime Commander, and Special Branch skipper. It makes no sense to have personnel in tinted vehicles parked in my vicinity from the early hours for 10 to 12 hours daily. To have the windows rolled up, and engine running all day is running up a huge gasoline bill, and for what, gents? Yes sir(s), the eyesight and state of mind are still that good, and the technology better still, to convey those images across Guyana’s borders. To the far north, not the near West. I assure the police top brass that the ground around me is barren. No opposition visitors, no underworld types, no questionable characters hobnobbed with, or ever present. No spooks, foreign or local.

Here is a hand: If there is one place where the police could be better employed, try a mere block or two from yours truly, and there they are. Ladies of the evening (appropriately attired, assembled, and arrayed); and they have been seen to operate in the daytime, too. Most are foreign, many may not be in that trade that is as old as man, but in matters more nefarious and detrimental to the State. So, why not call off the dogs? I am contemplating including the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs in this little affair that plays out daily (and in the darkness also). Yeah, the fellas are that obvious, and they appear constantly in the electronics; no matter how much they make themselves small, change spaces.

Further, I am pondering all the chaos in the big city, and the many reports of outsiders intruding illegally in Guyana’s spaces. I am recommending giving those the highest priority, for there is sure to be a bigger return on the investment of human capital, physical resources, and organisational assets. The Guyanese people lose when there is misuse of their strengths, when they themselves become the targets of undue scrutiny, possibly constitutional violations. I will have to check with the chief law officer in the land, the erudite attorney general, for some serious advice. I am thinking on the grounds of human rights interferences, invasion of privacy, and false imprisonment.

Considering what has been happening for a while now, the first question that comes is this: is this really necessary, and who came up with such thinking? Why all this anxiety? More importantly, where could all of this be leading? I, like every other citizen of the democratic republic of Guyana, should be looking to the Guyana Police Force as a bulwark against the dark forces at every level in this land. Dismal be the day, when there is thinking that the thin khaki and blue line that separates civilization from tyranny transforms into an instrument of encroachment, an organ of inquisition, and the weapon of politics, that most noble of undertakings and hallowed arts. Well, that day is here, and to that I swear.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)