Domestic violence – Min. Persaud on the move

Sep 23, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali drew his line in the sand on the occasion of his second inaugural address on the scourge of domestic violence. Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, is already walking the line on that same domestic violence pestilence in Guyana.

Some gender-based offenses should not be bailable. I agree fully. I would agree still more fully if all of such gender-based offenses are nonbailable. Show the abusers that this is taken seriously, and that they will be dealt with accordingly. No quarter given. No victim neglected. No politics in the matter of domestic madness gone crazy. In Guyana, that has happened, as the media reports and mortuaries can confirm.

A small note from me should help the minister. Minister Persaud has been so long in politics that she seems to have forgotten the Hippocratic. She manages to sound more like a politician than Dr. Diagnostician. To wit, domestic violence is “something that she feels very strongly about…maybe this could be considered eventually as an offense that does not have bail, or the bail is higher because the people too often get out.” Thanks, Madam Minister. Remember I promised, no condemnation for the next 100 days, so I tailor with a recommendation or two.

Since domestic violence and gender-based (interchangeable) mayhem is an issue on which Minister Persaud feels “very strongly about” then there ought not to be any “maybe” or “considered eventually” in her vocabulary. As the honorable minister knows better than I do, before “eventually” comes around, a handful of Guyanese women could be in a coffin, or languishing in a hospital badly wounded. I humbly recommend that she considers removing “maybe” and “eventually” and lead that charge for no bail, all jail, for domestic violence perps. If one of the fallouts from her casting such a wide net, is that some surprise perps are nailed, then what must be, will be.

For example, should some of her PPP comrades get overly unabashedly merry from prolonged elections victory celebrations, and ‘pelt deh haan’ as Guyanese say, then it is to the slammer for them. No excuse. No exemption. No bail. I am confident that Minister Persaud can fight that battle in the new cabinet and emerge a champion for domestic violence victims, while becoming the Scourge of God for domestic violence perpetrators. If she has to transform into Guyana’s first female Atilla, then she can be assured that I am standing right beside her, against the tide of barbarians that overrun hearth and heart through one domestic horror show after another.

Furthermore, I heartily support that program of providing rentals for survivors. And I endorse plans to expand that program. Remove the victims from the danger zone. Any related party that offended the peace of the people, and then intrudes around such places (rentals) should be given their last rites and a last meal. Next, I endorse any related training that helps victims find work and start on the road to financial independence. Thus, in addition to getting victims out of physical flashpoints (the home), there is also steering them away from the dependency zone that can, sometimes, prove so fatal. At the rate things are going, Minister Persaud and I could become the best of friends. I could endorse her for higher office.

There is, however, a tiny point of departure. I note that in the Family Act of 2024, there is a provision that cements victims of violence staying in the home, while the perpetrator has to leave. I have a problem here, and it is a troubling one. When the victims have that choice of staying in the home of abuse, they become the equivalent of sitting ducks. I see such a situation as victim in waiting and in plain sight. It is tantamount to an open invitation for an enraged and vicious partner to seethe and then blast off into depraved indifference and wanton disregard for life and law (and love). Too frequently, the result is of Guyanese having to digest another grisly headline along with their morning cereal. I think that this has to be avoided at all costs, minimised down to zero. No victim should stick around their old address. Too often this has been at the pain of death. This is where those rentals are worth their weight in gold, and more than that, a life probably spared.

In conclusion, there were lots of positives from Minister Persaud. My hope is that she will move with energy and determination to tie up the couple of loose ends that I identified. Like Pres. Ali said, this domestic violence plague has to be stopped dead in its tracks. “Kill” was his verb of choice. I think that it fits the circumstances. Go forth, minister.

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

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• Domestic violence, gender-based offenses, GHK Lall, Vindhya Persaud

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