What are the priorities of the Guyana Police Force?

May 16, 2025 Letters

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Dear, Editor

Recently, Daniel Wharton, well known as Baby Skello, was arrested in connection with the vulgar and blasphemous portrayal of the Hindu Goddess “Mother Lakshmi”, which was depicted in a song released by the individual.

While as young, objective voices, we don’t condone the vilification of any religion nor any acts that constitute sacrilege, we would like the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to act expeditiously as it relates to those political activists who presumptuously and glaringly made statements that incite racism and contravene the Racial Hostility Act, Chapter 23:01.

We have observed the responsiveness of the ERC towards Baby Skello’s inappropriate content, to which they have vowed “to explore all legal avenues available under the laws of Guyana.”

This selective responsiveness from the ERC does not augur well for the commission, given that it is an election year and the habit of racial profiling is synonymous.

The ranks of the Major Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department held Skello in police custody and interrogated him for the acts that he committed.

Based on reliable information, the musician was subsequently released from police custody and was urged to retract the sacrilegious content. We, the 592 Voices, wish to question the priority of the police, as the country is yet to await the imprisonment of those perpetrators involved in the gruesome death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge and many others.  The police hastily apprehended Skello but were unresponsive following the disappearance of the pre-teen.

Skello is merely a sacrilege offender who needs to be reprimanded and placed in a mental health facility because he obviously needs help, but Adriana Younge’s killers have not yet been caught. Does the Guyana Police Force conveniently and selectively arrest and imprison anyone without determining punishable versus unpunishable Offences?

Since the murder of Adriana, we have yet to witness the offenders brought before a court of law, given a preliminary trial, and ultimately given a guilty or not-guilty verdict. Following dubious circumstances surrounding the 11-year-old’s death, the family of the deceased child, after consulting with their lawyer, has decided not to bury the child until a second autopsy is conducted. This is because there is no toxicology report and the first autopsy’s details have not been made public.

What are truly the priorities of the Guyana Police Force? The 592 Voices, urge several members of the force to read the Criminal Law Offences Act 8:01 to really see what constitutes a criminal offence and a non-criminal offence.

It is noteworthy, that anyone who publishes blasphemous libel faces a misdemeanour and a year in jail, according to Article 347 (1) of the Criminal Law Offences Act 8:01.

Paragraph (2) of the same legislation stated that It shall be a question of fact whether any particular published matter is or is not a blasphemous libel: Provided that no person shall be liable to be convicted on any indictment for a blasphemous libel only for expressing in good faith and in decent language, or attempting to establish by arguments used in good faith and conveyed in decent language, any opinion whatsoever upon any religious subject.

Skello’s lewd music, to which he promised to engage in sexual activities with the Hindu Goddess, misrepresented the intentions of the deity, who is known for prosperity, wealth, beauty, and fertility.

It is important to note that according to Article 146 (3) of the Constitution “Freedom of expression does not relate to hate speeches or other expressions, in whatever form, capable of exciting hostility or ill-will against any person or class of persons”.

So those who think that freedom of expression means that you can freely disparage, malign or disrepute another race or ethnicity, then think again you are absolutely wrong. Just how Skello can be reprimanded by the ERC for vilifying a hindu deity, then we believe the Government must cancel the Baderation concert set for May 24 where Vybz Kartel is slated to perform.

Kartel’s music portrays debauchery and blasphemy to which he compared the female reproductive organ to that of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, the Jamaican artiste was welcomed in our country by Head of State Irfaan Ali and the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport. We seem not to comprehend the level of double standards within our society. The 592 Voices urge our men in uniform to divert attention to arresting those who are criminals, as the cries of Adriana Younge’s family and the nation are distinct.

Relevance, objectivity, trustworthiness, credibility, and integrity should be the beacon of those tasked to serve and protect.  We must commend all those right-thinking Guyanese who rallied around the grieving family of Adriana Younge, all races, for once in the history of this country, have emerged as a united front to confront the tentacles of injustice.

There are efforts to polarise us, but we must not fall prey to such traps, as justice must be administered for Adriana Younge. Silence is an indelible sign of complicity, and we, as future leaders of tomorrow, must not be silent nor violent, for the truth should be our mantra.

Regards,

592 Voices

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