The honeymoon is over at Home Affairs

Oct 24, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Since assuming office, Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond has spent her first weeks meeting the heads of law-enforcement agencies, touring facilities, and promising modernisation, from digital immigration services to improved police discipline and a more citizen-focused approach. Those initiatives deserve acknowledgement; yet, beyond ribbon-cuttings and system launches, the Minister now faces a sobering reality. The honeymoon is over, and the Ministry’s greatest test lies not in technology or new uniforms but in confronting the constitutional, moral, and professional decay eating away at the Guyana Police Force.

At the heart of this crisis stands the Police Service Commission (PSC), an institution whose very legality is in question. The Commission continues to operate with only four members following the death of one, even though the Chief Justice has ruled that five are required for it to function. Promotions and other decisions issued under this defective quorum are therefore illegal. To compound matters, the term of one commissioner is being extended beyond the lawful limit without public proof of appointment. This disregard for the Constitution is not merely administrative sloppiness; it is a flagrant violation that undermines the rule of law itself. A government sworn to uphold the Constitution cannot ignore such breaches without eroding its own legitimacy.

Meanwhile, misconduct within the Force festers unchecked. Reports of sexual abuse, coercion, and exploitation at training institutions and in remote regions reveal a culture of impunity. Allegations range from male trainees being assaulted by instructors to female recruits facing “sex-for-grade” pressures and retaliatory transfers when they speak out. In Region One, a senior officer’s involvement with a junior Indigenous recruit ended with the victim exiled to an ill-equipped outpost. Even statutory-rape allegations have emerged. Yet officers accused of such acts are more often transferred than disciplined. That permissive attitude, combined with selective enforcement and corruption “side hustles,” corrodes public confidence in policing.

The breakdown extends to investigative and legal procedure. Routine “stop and search” operations frequently violate Section 17 of the Police Act, which requires reasonable suspicion before intervention. Citizens are detained for sweating, drivers’ documents are seized without cause, and evidence gathered through such unlawful stops would be thrown out under the “forbidden fruit” doctrine anywhere a functioning justice system prevailed. Poor forensic work and sloppy investigations lead to countless dismissed cases, an expensive charade masquerading as justice. The Minister must recognise that digital dashboards and new patrol cars cannot redeem a Force that fails at the basics of constitutional policing.

Real reform therefore demands courage, not cosmetics. The Minister must ensure that the PSC is lawfully reconstituted, that every allegation of sexual or professional misconduct is investigated independently, and that officers understand both their powers and their limits. The Police Force’s crisis is systemic, bred by weak leadership, deficient mentorship, and political interference. Unless the Ministry confronts these issues head-on, the promised modernisation will ring hollow. Guyanese deserve a Police Force that serves the law, not one that exists above it, and that is the measure by which this new Minister will ultimately be judged.

Regards,
Sherod Duncan

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Home Affairs, honeymoon, Letters, Oneidge Walrond, Sherod Duncan

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