Controversy is something on which the government thrives

Controversy is nothing new to Guyana. The most serious is the border controversy with Venezuela. This controversy has been ongoing for ages. The issue was said to have been settled before anyone in Guyana was born.

Back in 1899, a border commission clearly defined the boundaries between the two countries. But there was a spanner in the works. One of the members on the commission in support of Venezuela, wrote a letter that he wanted open only when he died.

That letter when opened contended that there was some irregularity in the 1899 award. Venezuela accepted its veracity. To this day Guyana has been fighting off threats. Venezuela flexed its muscles by ceding a portion of the country in the form of the island of Ankoko.

Guyana garnered international support through its strong foreign policy. Recently, that foreign policy became weakened. Venezuela became more bellicose. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, during a visit to Guyana, had said that Guyana had nothing to fear. He told the National Assembly during that visit, that he would not invade, that he had no interest in ceding territory from Guyana.

That changed with Nicolas Maduro who replaced him. Caricom which firmly supported Guyana developed a schism. Two members who had close ties with Venezuela claimed to mediate between Guyana and Venezuela even as the International Court of justice was preparing to rule on the issue.

Guyana got suckered into this. Then President Irfaan Ali sent a signal that some interpreted as a weakness. At the recent sitting of the United Nations General Assembly he greeted President Maduro with a handshake.

Former British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn, said that Guyana sent the wrong signal when Ali met with Maduro. The handshake highlighted the weakness in Guyana’s foreign policy.

President Ali then demonstrated his party’s disregard for the rule of law when he proposed to appoint Clifton Hicken as Commissioner. He had earlier removed the only Deputy Commissioner, Paul Williams, to allow for the ascension of Hicken to the top spot.

Then Hicken reached the age of retirement. Instead of being allowed to go into retirement President Ali granted him an extension. Now nearly two years after that extension he wants to confirm Hicken as Commissioner.

This is a questionable move. Any retiree can therefore be brought back and promoted to a substantive position. Imagine the confusion that would follow.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton has signalled his intention to challenge this in the courts. He is also questioning Hicken’s qualification.

He had challenged President’s Ali decision to appoint Hicken acting Commissioner. In the end the Chief Justice ruled that although there was no consultation since there was no opposition leader at the time, the President was entitled to make the appointment through the Doctrine of Necessity.

And while all this is going on, Hicken is presiding over a police force that has been rocked by scandals. There is his Assistant Commissioner Clifton Brutus who is being investigated for financial irregularities. Brutus remains on leave to facilitate the investigation which seems to be going nowhere.

Many wanted an independent body to conduct the investigation, but the way things are, that is not happening. The people conducting the probe are closely linked to Brutus.

There is the belief that many others are involved in the scandal. Hicken, when asked at the beginning, had denied that Brutus was being investigated. Needless to say, his denial caused people to believe that he was not in touch or that he was protecting Brutus.

He also presided over the police force during the murder of Ricardo Fagundes that remains unsolved. There have been reports that the investigation was compromised by some police officers.

More recently, there was the kidnapping of Joshua David outside a Main Street eating house. CCTV cameras reportedly captured the kidnapping. They also traced the car along East Coast Demerara.

Detectives have been searching high and low for the victim. They have gone into the backlands at Buxton, reminiscent of the time when the crime wave was rampant in Guyana between 2002 and 2006.

Detectives had also searched the Buxton backlands for a man who had been kidnapped. The man was later freed by associates from a house in the city.

Unlike that time, the police have detained a number of suspects, some of whom have been charged. However, they have not been able to extract any information of the possible location of the victim.

At the same time, reports began to circulate that senior police officers are linked to the kidnapping. There has been no comment although a social media report debunked the claim that was based on the fact that some of the accused had the phone number of the senior police officer.

There are no police press conferences to provide updates on developments into the matter. In fact, the media are hard pressed to get information on the matter. Once more it seems that this would go the way of the Fagundes execution and the murders of the Henry brothers and Haresh Singh on West Berbice.

There are other worrying issues. Selective prosecution is one. Recently, there was an issue at a bar where a gun was used. One man allegedly drew his weapon and struck another man. The victim received a beating that caused him to be hospitalised.

One friend, or someone in the vicinity, proceeded to strike the assailant with a bottle. The police intervened. In other circumstances, once the police arrived on the scene, they should have immediately taken passion of the firearm. Investigations would have been conducted and by now charges would have been laid.

In this case the assailant with the gun is believed to be closely associated with the government. The result is that the police refused to take possession of the firearm. They also seemed to have halted any investigation because nothing more has been heard of the matter.

This is the state of the Guyana Police Force today, a police force that is said to be highly politicised.