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Weaponising the police force

Feb 10, 2025 Editorial, News

Editorial…

Kaieteur News-A government that is really about transparency and accountability is confident of the grounds on which it stands.  It has equipped itself to face any citizen in any forum and speak with power and conviction of its clean record.

The record must be clean and in the open before any such claim can be made.  The record of the PPPC Government has been of secrets, that of its leaders best described as what is deceptive.  When the government fears to answer honest and vital questions about some of the biggest issues happening in Guyana, then it has much to hide.  Such a government sees enemies everywhere, is abusive and hostile to those who spill the beans on how it operates behind the scenes.  In time, there is that next fateful step taken, viz-a-viz, where agents of the State are let loose on law-abiding citizens who speak out, and incense the government.  The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been used by different governments to intimidate outspoken citizens into silence.

Honest governments do not fear honest citizens, and the leaders of such governments usually welcome criticisms.  Leaders are made aware of where developments are not in the best interests of the people.  Leaders serve the people; the people are not servants of leaders.  Nor should they be targeted and their constitutional right to security be threatened in any way.  Most of all, it is a gross misuse of GPF manpower and resources to teach harsh lessons to those found objectionable.  When citizens break no law, and are guilty of one thing only, i.e., using their freedom to think and freedom to speak to disagree with actions of the government, they must not be victimized.  The PPPC Government knows that it is not in a good place with oil, with corruption, and with overall transparency and accountability.  It should also know that there are some Guyanese, albeit a scant few only, who will speak frankly and publicly, because they do not fear the government.

It is sad that this PPPC Government, which likes to talk so much about democracy, can be so impoverished where democracy’s ideals are concerned.  What the PPPC Government and leaders are doing today mirrors some of the dirty tricks that the PNC used to employ against those it defined as opponents.  Decades ago, the media used to be attacked and squeezed by the then PNC Government, today the PPPC Government does a good imitation of those troubled times.  Truth be told, there are many Guyanese who are of the view that today’s PPP is as bad, if not worse, than the PNC of yesteryear.  We at this publication have had our share of abuse and pressure.  We are still carrying on with the struggle for a better Guyana, the one that all Guyanese deserve, regardless of which political party is the government of the day.

The PNC back in its heyday deployed the Special Branch and others in the GPF against law-abiding Guyanese made to experience the long, heavy arm of law enforcement.  It was of law enforcement misused to abuse Guyanese.  We take no issue with the GPF unleashed against Guyanese engaged in illegal activities.  But we draw the line when frank speech and free speech are menaced.  Because the PPPC Government has engaged in so much wrongdoing, knows its vulnerabilities, it sees outspoken Guyanese as parasites to be crushed.  Arms of the State are weaponized to go after Guyanese and shut them up.  Why do matters deteriorate to being a crime, when a citizen with no record of breaking the law speaks out against what is happening with the oil money of the nation?  What does it say, when the GPF is pushed to come into life, and discover that that same citizen is someone that has to be dealt with in no uncertain terms?  Lines have already been crossed, with the question being how many more constitutional protections will be trampled upon, at the hands of a shaky government with insecure leaders?  Recently, there was the spectacle where the Commissioner of Police was blocked by the minister from speaking to the media.  Politics comes before real policing.  The follow-up action is to weaponize against honest citizens.

(Weaponising the police force)

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