In this dreamland of Guyana where rivers flow and the lands are rich, we have not only cultivated promises and possibilities of a great country, but a society where most people are docile and insane enough to sit and watch the death of a nation. Not one destroyed by some apocalyptic event, but where the moral compass of what we should expect by the rule of law and governance, is shattered.
Once again, the Guyana Police Force is in the spotlight for allegations of corruption. Incompetence is a thread in constant motion here. In another display of the absurd, questionable and foolishness, the senior members of the force held a press conference this week with the intention of discrediting Police Sergeant Dion Bascom, who has alleged that there was a cover-up in the murder of Ricardo Fagundes who was known as ‘Paper Shorts’. Fagundes was executed outside Palm Court on March 21st, 2021. Seventeen months later this crime has not been solved, adding to the long list of unsolved murders in Guyana.
Bascom was detained by CANU when a drug bust was made at a location where he was present. He was released and took to social media to air his grievances. The same grievances he aired earlier this year about corruption in the GPF. He believes that he was detained because there is an attempt to tarnish his reputation and by publishing his image in connection to drugs if he were to end up questionably deceased, it could be linked to that.
Bascom was one of the officers working the Fagundes murder case and earlier this year there were attempts to arrest one of the suspects. This suspect is an employee of the prominent business Mohamed’s Enterprise. Bascom alleged that a bribe was paid to a senior member of the Guyana Police Force to destroy evidence and cover up the murder. Sadly, such serious allegations do not surprise the average Guyanese. We have been conditioned and we observe that the players in these events are often unashamed in their lame attempts to cover up their failures and complicity in corruption.
In what I would call a poor PowerPoint presentation by the Guyana Police Force, which was to present evidence to prove Bascom was lying, the Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum failed to convince John Q. Public that Police Sergeant Dion Bascom is simply a deranged man spewing lies who was upset because he was arrested by CANU and taken off the Fagundes case. To further insult the intelligence of the Guyanese people, during this press conference we learned that the GPF might be incapable when it comes to tracking people using modern technology when the Crime Chief said they do not have any equipment that can do that. Bascom claimed that an officer was able to track the calls of a suspect in the Fagundes murder using a laptop. So, if we are to believe the Crime Chief that the Guyana Police Force does not have any equipment that can do such a job, are we to conclude that the GPF is a dinosaur when it comes to modern technology? And perhaps that is one of the reasons there are so many unsolved crimes?
The Crime Chief also claims that they do not investigate threats. If the reckless words out of his mouth were not so sad and telling, we would laugh at the absurdity, but there is nothing funny about the case. Young men in the ghetto can be quickly tracked and locked away for petty crimes or an ordinary citizen can be charged with cyberbullying with haste, but suspects in murders seventeen months later and more, walk free in Guyana.
Before watching the press conference, I thought that the police force in any country are supposed to investigate all crimes, but I guess the Guyana Police Force is an anomaly in that regard. Attempts were made to avoid answering some questions and the Police Commissioner even stated that he was friends with at least one of the journalists who was present and asking critical questions as if being friends meant that he, Commissioner of Police should not be questioned by the journalist. It was such a nonsensical scenario.
There are calls for an independent investigation into Bascom’s claims. The fact that a large section of the Guyanese people, do not believe the Guyana Police Force in this and many other cases, proves that the GPF has much work to do to regain whatever credibility it once had. But will it ever? While I am aware that there are decent officers in the police force who want to do right by the people, if the head rots, ultimately the entire body will become infected.
Whether Bascom is telling the truth or not, we have no guarantee that time will reveal. We have seen the hiring of lawyers, threats of lawsuits and statements from the prominent businessman denying Bascom’s allegations. All these distractions will not put a wool over the eyes of sane Guyanese. Fagundes is another unsolved murder.
It is sad that there is concern that Bascom’s life may be at risk. So easily the average man can say “I hope they don’t kill him” or “I hope he does not disappear.”
We have seen cases before where those with the loudest voices were silenced. Names like Ronald Waddell, George Bacchus and Courtney Crum-Ewing are just a few. But too long we have sat and let the disease spread.
The shadows of corruption should have disappeared with the illumination of truth, justice, and righteousness, but they have been allowed to manifest into the monsters now terrorizing us. And many simply accept that, “This is Guyana”.
It was not unexpected that Bascom’s claims would be dismissed by some in Guyana Police Force and that is quite telling. What kind of society is this? Perhaps there is no country on Earth where the collective is unscathed by the venom that poisons this world. But in our little Guyana, what hangs over us is too heavy. It is sucking the hopes and dreams out of many pushing them to conclude that to make it they too must be silent and comply or fly across the ocean to make life.
When the actors in the positions of power try to keep up appearances, we know the truth. When we wholly cannot trust those sworn to protect and serve, what shall become of us?
