Just how divided public opinion on the allegation of rape made against Police Commissioner Henry Greene has become is evidenced in the view expressed recently by Education Minister Priya Mannickchand that the controversial 57-year-old ‘top cop’ should no longer occupy public office. This, despite the fact that the government which she serves has allowed Greene to continue to occupy the office of Commissioner despite the unrelenting controversy that attends the accusation. As far as anyone can tell there is no precedent of high officials of the PPP/CIVIC administration publicly breaking ranks with the government on matters of controversy, though, in expressing her opinion on the Greene issue the Education Minister would have been reminded that her last portfolio embraced, among other things, responsibility for seeking to stem the tide of widespread abuse of women in Guyana.
By also expressing disquiet over the ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang that the recommendation by the Director of Public Prosecutions that Greene be charged and taken before the courts, Minister Mannickchand, herself an attorney-at-law may well have been seeking to make the same point