Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Attorney Nigel Hughes believes Guyana is not too far away from a full breakdown in Law and Order due to the increasing lack of confidence in the Guyana Police Force.

Mr. Hughes made the comment during a virtual panel discussion last evening

He said the Guyana Police Force under the leadership of Acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, is facing a crisis. 

“I think everybody knows the level of confidence in the Guyana Police Force, and certainly the leadership of the Guyana Police Force is close to the floor. I don’t know how you can possibly have anything looking like a modern country with the levels of scandals that are taking place in the Guyana Police Force in the upper level. And these allegations are not just coming from the citizenry, the police and their various compartments and departments are accusing each other of horrendous crimes,” the AFC Leader said. 

Currently before the Courts is Assistant Commissioner of Police, Calvin Brutus. He is facing 240 criminal charges over a series of alleged financial crimes.

Other senior officers within the Force have also been accused of acts corruption, and of having links to the criminal underworld. They have all denied those allegations. 

Pointing to countries like Colombia and Mexico, where there has been a surge in crime and gang violence, Hughes warned that politics and crime should never intermix. He said Guyana needs to take action before it is too late. 

 “When you get to that stage of entrenchment of criminal activity and its relationship with politics, you don’t walk back from that, it is impossible to walk back from that. But you can hope to do is navigate as you go forward, and Guyana is at a stage where it is clear, just looking at what is going on in the head of the Guyana Police Force. Generally, the top brass and the numbers that are being called, what industries would do that? People who commit murder, and I suspect most of them, if they are wealthy enough, they will deal with the corruption at the police station, they are not going to deal with it up at the top,” he said. 

The AFC Leader said the country is facing difficult times, and it is time to change course.

The Guyana Human Rights Association and the People’s National Congress Reform have both made calls for a total overhaul of the Guyana Police Force.

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