Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett says that government has no authority over the Police Service Commission (PSC) and it would not be responsible governance for the Donald Ramotar administration to pronounce on the recent promotion of the two police officers who tortured a 15-year-old boy in 2009.
Rodrigues-Birkett told a press conference on Wednesday that during Guyana’s presentation at the recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland last week, this particular case was not brought up because the promotion of the officers happened in January this year and the reporting period was from 2010 to 2014.
Her statements followed remarks by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon last week that appeared to support the promotions. Attorney General Anil Nandlall later said Luncheon was only expressing a comment on the promotions process and not the merit of the promotions.
Rodrigues-Birkett emphasised that the administration has no control over the PSC, while noting that its independence is enshrined under the constitution. She stated that it was not a good step for the government to comment on these matters or interfere with a constitutionally-protected body, such as the PSC.
Rodrigues-Birkett stated that it was not the government that was charged with the promotion of Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai, the two policemen who tortured the boy in 2009, when they poured methylated spirits on his genitals and set him alight while he was in custody at the Leonora Police Station as part of a murder investigation. She reiterated that the promotions were not brought up during the 2015 UPR, although aspects of the case would have fallen within the period of review that Guyana was presenting on. She said at the UPR she spoke about Guyana’s need to work with police on excesses.
Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira told reporters at the press conference that the questions being asked during the press briefing intended to report on Guyana’s presentation were distracting. She said the torture case went back to 2009, while the UPR dealt with the period 2010 to 2014.
Teixeira echoed the minister’s sentiments about the PSC being under the purview of the constitution and therefore protected from government interference. She also stated that the incident was pronounced on by the courts.
In November 2009, Lall and Narine were charged with burning the genitals of the boy with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm. The criminal case against them was subsequently dismissed in the magistrate’s court because the boy and other witnesses failed to turn up.
However, in 2011, following the filing of a civil action, Justice Roxane George found the ranks liable and after describing the case as constituting torture, awarded the teenager $6.5 million, which the State eventually paid.
The 2009 torture case drew international condemnation and an investigation by the police’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) had found that the two policemen injured and tortured the teen boy. The Ministry of Home Affairs had also publicly acknowledged that the teen had been tortured and expressed regret.
Both Rodrigues-Birkett and Teixeira were disinclined to address the matter on Wednesday, citing timeframes repeatedly.
One of the recommendations to Guyana from Ghana coming out of the UPR review was to seek the support of the Group of Friends of the Convention Against Torture. Both Rodrigues-Birkett and Teixeira said they had no knowledge of the Group of Friends, which is a group comprising countries that share experiences and knowledge on prevention mechanisms under the Convention against Torture’s 2014-2024 agenda. Ghana is a founding member. The government has faced heavy criticism since the promotion of the two officers, with the Rights of the Child Commission, a rights commission established under the constitution, and other groups expressing alarm that the government has said and done nothing in relation to a reversal.
The Rights of the Child Commission said it views the recent promotion of the two policemen with alarm, while noting that their elevation constitutes a significant departure from the spirit and intent of Article 19 of the United Nations Conven-tions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which establishes the right of the child to be free from hurt both in body and mind.
Moreover, the commission noted, in addition to its breach of the UNCRC, the promotions also collide violently with Guyana’s treaty obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
