Police war on bribery

Oct 02, 2025 Editorial, News

---

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Police Force (GPF), long hobbled by its own infirmities, has now declared war on bribery. In doing so, the Force has urged citizens not to offer bribes to ranks. On the surface, this sounds like a noble call, a step toward cleansing the institution of one of its most corrosive afflictions. But as with many pronouncements coming from the leadership of the GPF, citizens have greeted this call with skepticism. And rightly so.

For decades, the GPF has limped under the weight of its own corruption. The Force, by many accounts, is suffering from a pathological sickness. The sum of individual wrongdoing has dragged down an institution that should stand as the defender of law and order but is instead staggering like a patient on life support. Bribery is among the most common symptoms of this disease, so widespread that it has become almost institutionalized. Ask any motorist in this country, and they will recount stories of being stopped by traffic ranks and either pressured into paying or openly solicited for a bribe.

This latest declaration of “war on bribery” comes after years of documented misconduct, from the massive driver’s licence examination scam unearthed last April to smaller, daily acts of petty corruption. Whether it is the cancellation of traffic tickets, the facilitation of drug shipments, or the falsifying of reports, the GPF has been caught too many times with its hands dirty. In such an environment, citizens can be forgiven for doubting whether this war will be any different from others that were announced with great fanfare and then quietly abandoned.

Yet, even in this limping state, the police force cannot be discarded. Guyana needs its police. Without it, there is only chaos. That unhappy truth places citizens in a dilemma: forced to rely on an institution that repeatedly betrays its oath, while knowing that the very officers tasked with enforcing the law may themselves be participants in lawbreaking. This reality makes the call to citizens not to offer bribes both ironic and troubling.

Bribery, after all, is already a crime. It is punishable by law. It should not require a special plea from the police leadership for citizens to refrain from committing an offence. What is truly required is for the police to enforce the law without fear or favour, beginning with their own ranks. The very fact that the GPF feels compelled to beg citizens not to tempt officers with bribes is itself a damning indictment of the institution’s weakness. It reveals not strength, but fragility.

The truth, uncomfortable as it may be, is that bribery thrives in an environment of mistrust and desperation. Many officers are underpaid, and many citizens, weary of harassment or fearful of trumped-up charges, find it easier to slip a few thousand dollars into a waiting palm than to endure hours at the station or months in court. This vicious cycle has created a culture where bribery is seen less as a crime and more as a transaction—ordinary, expected, even convenient.

To break this cycle, both sides must change. Citizens must recognize that offering a bribe only fuels the very corruption that makes their lives harder. A bribe may buy temporary relief, but it strengthens a system that will continue to oppress and exploit. At the same time, the GPF must show by its actions—not its rhetoric—that it is serious about rooting out corruption. Outfitting immigration officers with body cameras, as was recently announced, is one step in the right direction. But cameras alone cannot cleanse a culture. What is needed is a relentless commitment to discipline, transparency, and accountability. Officers caught soliciting or accepting bribes must face swift and public consequences.

The Guyana Government also has a role to play. Low pay and poor working conditions have been cited time and again as drivers of corruption. It is disingenuous to demand integrity from men and women who can barely feed their families. If the GPF is to be reformed, it must start with ensuring that officers are compensated fairly and trained rigorously, so that the temptation to take bribes is lessened, and the courage to resist them is strengthened.

Ultimately, however, the responsibility cannot rest on the shoulders of the Force alone. A corrupt police force does not exist in a vacuum, it reflects a corrupt society. Too often, it is ordinary Guyanese who, instead of demanding justice and accountability, offer bribes to evade responsibility. The man who slips money to avoid a traffic ticket is no less guilty than the officer who accepts it. Both feed the rot that has crippled the GPF. The war on bribery, then, must be a war fought on two fronts. The police must clean their own house, and citizens must stop furnishing it with bribes. This is not simply a matter of law enforcement but of national survival. A limping police force is already dangerous; a corrupt one is lethal. The GPF has declared war. It is now for citizens to decide whether they will be part of the problem or part of the solution.

---

• bribe, bribery, Editorial, Guyana Police Force, Police war

---