Why so much time, pressure required

Oct 19, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – Deputy Commissioner of Police, Fazil Karimbaksh, has been sent on leave. It was rescinded when he challenged that order. National Border Patrol Director and former Region Four Chairman, Daniel Seeram, is now reportedly securely lodged in the Camp Street jail. On the face of these two developments, it seems that the machinery of the law, and the search for justice, are on the move in Guyana. Looks can be deceiving, and both of these matters stand as proof of how law and justice really operate in the local environment.

It took almost a week after the courts ruled that Seeram should be jailed. A case of domestic violence is what he is now forced to deal with. From behind bars in a prison cell, he weighs his predicament, considers the changes that may be in his future. One of those changes may be an extended period in jail, depending on how the Guyana justice machinery turns over when his day in court comes around. The issue that is before citizens is not that Seeram is in jail, but that it took such a painfully long time for him to be placed in those confines. We at this paper hope that it is in a cell, and not in some comfortable sofa in the warden’s office.

It should not have required so much public outrage and so much public pressure before the authorities came to their senses, and scrambled to contain the situation. The issue was not going away, to die a quiet, unannounced death, when the attention of the nation was captured by new developments. The more the PPP/C Government worked at protecting one of its own, by playing for time, and dragging matters out, the more citizens became worked up, and critical of the double standards that are now so commonplace in this oil rich country. Because if it was a street vendor or a public transport driver who was alleged to have battered his partner, they would have had the book quickly thrown at them, and not even given the time to get a toothbrush. In other words, handcuffs on, and to jail immediately. This is an inseparable aspect of the dark side, the up and down nature, of the application of the law and justice in Guyana. In spite of the continuing streams of powerful rhetoric of the primacy of the law locally, there have been too many of these instances that contradict the official postures. It seems that when someone attached to the PPP/C Government has broken the law (drunk driving, dangerous driving, leaving the scene of an accident, domestic violence, and assaults on other citizens), a different set of procedures and professional standards are observed. It is old political and law enforcement cultures dominating: different folks, different strokes.

In the matter involving Deputy Commissioner of Police Baksh, the allegations could not have been more serious. Rape alleged and then of threats, including one involving a gun. Yet, the days extended to weeks while Karimbaksh remained on duty, and probably leaving the alleged victim in that worst of places. Did she make a mistake by reporting her ordeal, and now experiencing additional traumas brought about by silence in the Guyana Police Force specifically, and the casualness of the government, in general? Will she pay steep prices for her courage in coming forward?

In considering the Seeram charge and Karimbaksh allegations, then the subsequent developments, would there have been any movement in the absence of the outrage of civil society and political voices? We at this paper take the position that if sustained pressures were not mounted, there was the high probability of both situations disappearing from public view, nobody hearing much about them afterwards, and alleged crimes being left unaddressed.

The test of an institution, the test of a government, is how well it responds, when the vulnerable in society is impacted. Those who should be held accountable must be made to answer for their alleged misdeeds, and in public forums. These are not situations to be bargained over. Crimes of violence have their penalties, and should be applied to those found guilty. This should be automatic, and not dependent on public outrage and pressure.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Border Patrol, Daniel Seeram, Domestic violence, Editorial, Fazil Karimbaksh, justice

Latest News