Several days since revolting rape allegations were published about a senior member of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), there has been utter silence from the GPF and the Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Walrond.
By their silence, one has to assume that both the GPF and Minister Walrond are of the view and knowledge that the allegations are false and trumped up. If that were the case then they at least owed the public a statement to that effect.
If that was not the case and there was some basis to believe the account of the accuser well then the Minister and the GPF should have been saying a lot more, particularly about the action taken to investigate and have the accused stand down while the matter was addressed.
It appears that the paralysis of zero accountability has gripped both the GPF and Minister Walrond. The sinking of the MV Barima and the loss of 100 lives have underlined that President Ali has no concept of ministerial accountability and the ministers themselves do not possess an iota of understanding of their responsibilities and obligations.
The most damning feature of the silence is the statement from the complainant that Minister Walrond, a former magistrate, had been provided with information about her complaint on September 20. Again, it behoved the Minister to issue a public rebuttal.
To date, nothing has been forthcoming. It cannot be that with all of the rhetoric from various ministers in government about defending women’s rights, confronting misogyny and gender-based violence that they and the government could be so callous and unthinking to maintain silence.
It cannot be the case that with all of the various projects being pursued with the international community to redress gender inequality and violence against women that the government believes it could simply maintain stony silence.
There is of course one plausible reason for the silence. The subject of the allegations has been one of the persons relied on by the government to discharge key elements of its security policy. It would be unfortunate if that reliance on this individual has imbued him with a sense of invincibility and impunity.
This isn’t the first time that such allegations have been made against a senior policeman. Whatever the reason, the silence cannot continue. We call on Minister Walrond to state whether she had been advised of the complaint against this senior policeman and if so what she has or has not done about it. Her credibility and that of her government are on the line.
Discussion