Govt. backs down on rapists’ secrecy

Jun 11, 2026 News

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…as public outrage forces Sexual Offences Bill to committee review

(Kaieteur News) – Facing intense public backlash and condemnation from the political opposition, the Government of Guyana has bowed to public pressure, with President Irfaan Ali ordering that the controversial Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill be sent to a Parliamentary Select Committee.

The administration’s sudden pivot was signaled late Wednesday afternoon when Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced on his Facebook page that the executive would abandon its proposal for a “closed” sex offenders registry in favour of a fully public database.

“President Dr. Irfaan Ali has instructed that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, presented in the National Assembly on 5^th June, 2026, be sent to a Select Committee,” Jagdeo said on his Facebook page.

“He has also indicated that it is his view, and that of the Cabinet, that any register of sex offenders must be public. I strongly share this view,” the Vice President stated.

The announcement follows days of mounting fury over provisions within the bill that shielded the identities of convicts from the public, requiring citizens to instead submit formal request forms to the police to access background information.

Shortly after the Vice President’s announcement, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, took to social media to defend the architecture of the initial draft while acknowledging the executive turn.

“The Sexual Offences Amendments Bill 2026 has for the first time a Sex Offenders Register,” Persaud stated. “The President, myself and the members of Cabinet hold the view,this should be an Open Register. However, the Bill was crafted based on the view of the public consultations, which overwhelmingly suggested a closed register,” the minister said.

Persaud confirmed that as the subject Minister, she intends to propose sending the bill to the Select Committee “to have it further discussed by members,” noting that the legislation will “benefit from more scrutiny and views at that Committee.”

Opposition Demands Resignation, Slams Legislative “Incompetence”

The administration’s retreat did little to pacify the opposition, which launched a coordinated onslaught characterising the government’s legislative process as chaotic and hypocritical.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) previously demanded the immediate resignation of Minister Persaud, accusing her of attempting to “shield predators” and branding the legislation “unworthy of the National Assembly.”

Forward Guyana Movement’s Leader and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir lashed out at the mixed messaging coming from the executive, calling the situation “incompetence at its best” in a public statement posted on her Facebook page.

“The Vice President now tells us that the President has instructed that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill… be referred to a Select Committee,” Walton-Desir stated. “At the same time, the Minister responsible has been telling the public that this bill emerged from consultation. Consultation with whom? When were these consultations conducted? Where were they advertised?”

Walton-Desir argued that the policy reversal exposes a fundamental breakdown in governance.

“Either Cabinet approved the policy and is now publicly revising its position after the bill was tabled, or the bill was brought to Parliament before Cabinet had settled one of its most important policy questions,” she added. “The PPP Government is an unserious lot,” she declared.

“A Step in the Right Direction”

The shift toward transparency, however, found an ally in Alliance for Liberty (ALP) leader Simona Broomes, who strongly backed the transition to an open database.

“I strongly believe that such register should be made public, it is in the public interest,” Broomes said in an invited comment to Kaieteur News. “How will parents know to protect themselves from these predators? Too many predators around. If you really follow up, any attempt to curb these predators is a step in the right direction to have it made public,” Broomes stated.

Flawed Infrastructure and Legal Loopholes

Beyond the privacy of the registry, the bill faced fierce criticism over its structural and ethical components. The AFC raised major logistical questions regarding a clause requiring convicted offenders to report to local Toshaos (indigenous community leaders) in hinterland areas lacking law enforcement.

“What makes the Minister believe that offenders will willingly comply with such a requirement? Moreover, why, in 2026, are there still communities without adequate police presence?” the AFC questioned.

The opposition also targeted exemptions built into the bill excluding individuals with mental disabilities from being placed on the registry. The AFC noted that if a court has already convicted an individual of a sexual offense, any defence based on mental incapacity has already been deemed legally insufficient to prevent a finding of guilt.

The Problem with International Importing

Adding weight to the opposition’s criticisms, WIN’s Shadow Minister of Human Services Natasha Singh-Lewis, MP, dismantled the government’s reliance on international benchmarks, such as those in the U.K., Canada, or Australia, to justify a private registry.

“What [Minister Persaud] fails to acknowledge is that those countries also have strong institutions, independent oversight bodies, robust victim protection systems, and a level of public confidence in law enforcement and the justice system that simply does not exist in Guyana,” Singh-Lewis argued.

“You cannot import one part of an international model while ignoring the safeguards that make that model work,” Singh-Lewis stated. “The Minister is asking Guyanese to trust a closed system when many citizens have little confidence in the institutions that will control that system. That is the fundamental flaw,” she said.

Background to the Bill

The legislative push to update Guyana’s Sexual Offences Act of 2010 began in earnest in April 2025, when public consultations were launched by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. The Department of Public Information (DPI) reported in 2025 that the drafting consultant and Attorney-at-law Kim Kyte-Thomas had outlined protocols for data security, access restrictions, and penalties for unauthorized disclosure under the closed-registry framework.

While Minister Persaud previously hailed the draft as a “very progressive piece of legislation” surpassing anything in the region, the realities of severe public distrust have forced the state back to the drawing board.

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• Dr. Vindhya Persaud, rapists, sex offenders registry, Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill

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