Dear Editor,
The word from the media is that the embattled Crime Chief has been cleared of misconduct allegations. More pointedly, it is from the Commissioner of Police himself, as it had to be.
The CoP has spoken and the authority and credibility that go with his office must be recognised, respected, and accepted. The same is due to the man too. I tender it. There should be no speculations as to the surprising nature of the outcome of this probe, given all that swirled around it and the besieged Crime Chief, from the moment of its inception. It is what it is. We must believe and move forward with whatever trust is left in this society.
Because if we cannot have faith in the office of the CoP and its current holder, then there is not much left for hopeful, law abiding citizens. I have that faith and extend it publicly. I have to. Because if all the way to the top of the law and order apparatus in this country, after all we have been through, and after all the changes in personnel and procedures put together in that institution, we are in the same sorry place, then we truly are a pathetic people destined for the worst possible fate. Thus, I hold on to the threads of optimism about the Guyana Police Force. It is never easy; but the benefit of the doubt must be given as to the scope, depth, and authenticity of this internal inquiry. The outcome, too.
Editor, as I write and share these thoughts, the clinical part of me is concerned about certain human and organisational things. The Crime Chief himself, wherever and however he ends up, is going to have to pick up the pieces. Much damage has been done, and as such, it may prove to be inordinately difficult to undo that smoothly. There is much remedial work to be done and time will present the success or lack of in such endeavours and reports. After all, one does not simply turn up at the office, especially at such a senior and sensitively placed level, as though nothing of significance occurred. This was and still is the Crime Chief (as of this writing) and one responsible for the stewardship of the nation’s criminal barricades in all of its many demands and nuances. Matters are not just shrugged off and it is business as usual. Real life does not work along those lines. I suspect that there will have to be some, shall I say, adaptations.
For its part, the GPF will be still further challenged regarding the purity of its purposes and practices in fulfilling its obligations to state and citizen. This was a body blow, and though the investigation did report what it did, the sentiments and effects will linger. My thinking is that there is going to have to be renewed vigour and determination to get things right and then do them right. As is said in the restaurant business, presentation is a key ingredient. There will be a lot of the incredulous around.
In the same vein, I ponder as to where this probe and development leaves those who raised voice and hand to point and alert as to the real state of affairs in some very troubling matters. The realm of personal charges and counter charges was long and stormy. It was and remains the only visible and audible part. That has been put to rest. Officially. The problem is, again in human and institutional respects, where and to what do those who stepped forward now find themselves consigned and confined. Maybe even condemned.
As may be detected in this writing, my emphasis is on good faith and the continuity that is so much a mutually reinforcing aspect of the two. These are mandatory and nonnegotiable in the law enforcement field. Therefore, I must also believe that those in the trenches, who were courageous enough to rock the boat by going against the tide, did so in the good faith of good grounds. Those grounds have now shifted in the other direction; it may be argued, without exaggeration, tectonically. The hope is that those juniors are not shifted also into the graveyard that organisations are known to own for such contingencies. False witness is deplored in the decalogue. It ought to be no less so in whatever police processes follow. Like I said, this cannot be the business as usual of turning up for duty as if nothing happened. The challenge is to guard against institutional and personal retribution, which must be devoid of the malicious and the vindictive. Only vigilance and personal integrity will carry the day.
I have said a long mouthful. As I pause for breath, I submit that there is much soul-searching that must be done at many levels: the organisational, the managerial, and the personal. This country, its leaders, and its peoples are prompted (yet again) to do so much soul-searching, too. Not only with relevance to the forces of law and order, and justice and equity, but in all the things that so preoccupy and transform us into the charred fragments of burnt toast. I have one concern left today: do we still have a soul left? And if we do, is it of the kind that comforts through its resonance for what is right?
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
