For all sorts of reasons, the vast majority of which are widely known to the Guyanese public and which officialdom has made no serious effort to address over the years, the image of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is now, unquestionably, in tatters, the latest occurrence, an alleged enormous financial ‘rip off’ involving a senior member of a GPF still resonating across a country shocked over the sheer scale of the alleged financial shenanigans in which the accused police officer is allegedly involved.
Since the matter (s) in question now falls within the jurisdiction of the courts there are limits to which the media can go in ventilating the issue though that still leaves some latitude for meaningful comment on what is, unquestionably, a matter of considerable public interest and one which could further imperil the already considerably degraded credentials of the Guyana Police Force.
That said, such damage control mechanisms as ought to be in place in the GPF would appear to be non-existent since, officially, the GPF appears to have ‘gone quiet’ on the matter. Here, it has to be said that the GPF would have to be living in ‘la la’ land if it seriously believes that what is, in fact, an unfathomable scandal, can be simply wished away. The fact of the matter is that – and there is simply no way to wash this away – this particular scandal, by its nature, has rocked the foundations of the GPF’s image.
Even taking account of the fact that the matter of the embattled senior police officer is now within the jurisdiction of the courts, there is little wrong with throwing the Minister of Home Affairs into the PR affray, marshalling senior officers and ranks, making the point that there is ‘life after’ the enormous scandal that has, unquestionably, further degraded the image of a Force that has been ‘in the docks’ over various aspects of its performance for some time.
Here, the point should be made that with Guyana having a somewhat burnished international profile of late, the government has a responsibility to continue to seek to vigorously protect its image as a place in which to ‘do business’ from becoming irreparably tarnished. The image of a Police Force that appears not to be always mindful of upholding the tenets of law and order is certainly not likely to attract a stream of reputable investors.
If the courts are the proper place in which to address the matter of the alleged indiscretions of the ‘fingered’ senior police officer, that does not remove from the government the obligation to now take a long and direct look at the Guyana Police Force as a whole, in order to ascertain whether other similarly outrageous scandals are not tucked away in the GPF’s closet, which many believe to be the case. Frankly, it often seems that the official image of the GPF is underpinned by its perceived image as an exempted institution, which, one feels, is precisely the reason why it often seems as though its indiscretions, some of which have been considerable, are overlooked. As a senior police officer put it during a recent informal chat with this newspaper, whoever you may be it is in your interest to ‘live good’ with the police.
When all of the issues that attend this latest scandal involving the senior police officer are taken account of, there can be no question than that the incident (well and truly) drags the GPF into the depths of disrepute. To allow oneself to be deluded into believing that opting for the ‘theatre’ of simply placing the extant matter before the Courts, is to fail to grasp the significance of the matter. Much of the problem, here, has to do with the fact that, this time around, the Guyana Police Force comes to the court of public opinion with considerable ‘baggage’ which is precisely why the matter has assumed the proportions of a national scandal.
From the standpoint of the populace, the GPF, given its critical role in effecting law enforcement has, for far too long, been ‘exempted’ from much of the criticism that it deserves. Truth be told, there have been open and shut instances of both state and public over-indulgence of the GPF. All of this is happening under the very nose of the political administration and on the watch of a Minister who, not infrequently, appears altogether detached from the GPF and its tribulations.
Unlawfulness within the Guyana Police Force, charged with overseeing adherence to law and order, is far from reassuring to both our national audience and to those who, for all sorts of reasons, are looking in from the outside.
