Greene should resign or be dismissed

Dear Editor,

The Stabroek News headline, dated February 13 and captioned ‘Cabinet will have to discuss if any disciplinary action against Top Cop -Nandlall,’ is another unfortunate story. For the Attorney General to tell the Guyanese public that the top cop’s subject minister or the President of Guyana cannot demand that the substantive Police Commissioner, who has passed the age of retirement, demit office because of his conduct, is an insult to our intelligence. This latest comment by the government disregards the ethical standards of any decent and moral society.

Mr Greene’s own comments with regard to the rape allegations against him, are sufficient to conclude that his actions were improper and therefore that he has lost the moral authority to act as the most senior person in charge of the safety and protection of our citizens. If the PPP/C government cannot recognize this simple fact and act in the interest of protecting the ethical standards of our people, it may indicate that they themselves might be struggling to find their own moral groundings.

Why must a matter as clear cut as this case be sent to cabinet or parliament before Mr Greene is dismissed? When the Commissioner of Police can admit after an investigation that he had “consensual sex“ with a female who went to him for help, and the government allows him to remain on the job weeks after this revelation, something is wrong.

As a people we demand better. We cannot allow the complacency, intransigence and lack of moral fortitude of the PPP/C government to define us as a people; we must speak up. I am not here to determine whether or not Mr Greene’s version of the story is accurate, let the courts decide that, but at least his admitted conduct in office should be recognized as being not acceptable. I wish he had enough courage to do the decent thing and resign.  It appears, however, that Mr Greene and the PPP/C have decided that they will attempt to ride this thing out, in the hope that people will forget the case.

I wish that more citizens and organizations would speak out against this lack of ethics.

Yours faithfully,
Lurlene Nestor