Serve and protect who? 

Apr 28, 2025 Editorial, News

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Editorial…

Kaieteur News-  Last week the government was quick to defend the discredited Guyana Police Force following the damning assessment by the United States Government of that organisation’s ability to fight transnational crimes as contained in its 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR).

The usually loquacious Attorney General, Anil Nandlall spared no time in regaling this nation that this country’s credentials as a fighter against money laundering and drug trafficking were recently “scrupulously examined over a period, from September 2022 to June 2024, in a mutual evaluation exercise conducted by the most premier regulatory body in this hemisphere – the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)”  He said in this process, “every aspect of Guyana’s AML/CFT framework was critically scrutinised, including our legislative framework, our administrative processes, our investigative capabilities, and our law enforcement and prosecutorial capacities.”

His comment was in direct response to these paragraphs in the 2025 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), where the US Department of State noted that: ”Despite growing oil wealth and the government’s increased efforts, the public sector – including law enforcement and customs officials – remains underpaid. Coupled with a lack of adequate resources and shortcomings in the legal system, this allows traffickers to exploit government systems and move illicit drugs through Guyana.”

The report added: “Corruption within law enforcement, bribery, and nepotism in the public sector and political entities further complicate the fight against drug trafficking.”  The report stated: “Authorities often drop charges or never file them and do not conduct serious investigations; traffickers are able to evade prosecution. Additionally, the economic appeal of the drug trade in Guyana, with its high poverty rate and low-paying public sector jobs, leads individuals to become involved in illicit activities and hinders efforts to curb trafficking. In two separate incidents in July, four GDF officers were charged with trafficking a total of 213 kilograms of cannabis. “

All that the US Department of State mentioned in the report have played out before our eyes over the years under successive PPP/C administrations and the US State Department and citizens did not have to wait too long before further proof of the rottenness of the Guyana Police Force was exposed for all to see when from all appearances senior and junior ranks tried to cover up the alleged murder of Adrianna Younge at the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.

That the Guyana Police Force went so far as to issue a false official press statement, detailing how Younge was abducted and spirited away in a Toyota Raum and then doubled down the next day to tell relatives that she was seen at a bus shed and a host of other lies, explain how serious a problem we have on our hand with the country’s premier law enforcement agency. Therefore, repeated calls for greater independent oversight of this organisation and also reforms cannot be ignored.

In real democracies, with what transpired at Tuschen, the head of the Police Force and the commander in charge of the division would have already been sacked. Instead, the retiree, Mr. Clifton Hicken is still holding on to his job and had it not been for street protests, the commander, Khlaid Mandall would have also been in his place at Leonora. It is the kind of joke that passes for governance in Guyana, which the attorney general was ready to defend against a well-researched and credible report from the US Government.

The GPF is the most visible and ubiquitous institution in the law and order arena and it is not unreasonable for citizens to expect the organisation to fulfill its motto to serve and protect them. Confidence in the Guyana Police Force among citizens has always been low. The Guyana Police Force over the years has been embroiled in numerous allegations of corruption, including involvement in extrajudicial killings, collaboration with criminal gangs, selling driver’s licences and firearms, executing political instructions, facilitating the transshipment of illegal narcotics, and covering up murders, particularly those involving wealthy Guyanese, politicians, and the politically-connected. Financial crimes within the Force further compound these egregious acts. Such actions fundamentally undermine the integrity and trustworthiness of the Police Force.

It is not our intention to go into detail as to what may be necessary for a complete overhaul of the force: we simply want to emphasise that we cannot avoid it, just to resume wringing our hands when the next tragedy like what happened at Tuschen or in Linden, erupts and hits us in the face or another scandal with the magnitude like the one that has enveloped Calvin Brutus. We cannot afford to become complacent. Allegations of being accessory to murder, corruption or torture by the members of the GPF and unexplained deaths of individuals while in police custody are only some of the troubling symptoms, which highlight the underlying systemic malaise in the GPF. Reform of the GPF cannot be sidelined.

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