OPINION: Commissioner Hicken, time for congratulations or condolences

Last Updated on Monday, 7 October 2024, 18:33 by Writer

by GHK Lall

The appointment of a substantive commissioner of police is a done deal, save for the formalities. In normal circumstances, I would be the first to say a word of goodwill to the incumbent in waiting, Mr. Clifton Hicken. Most citizens would agree that there is nothing normal about either the Guyana Police Force or, for that matter, Guyana. Instead of engaging in the hypocrisy of saying congratulations Commissioner Clifton, condolences are what is felt to be more suitable to the occasion, the overall environment. A reason or two should help Guyanese to appreciate the relevance of condolences, obtain a sense of the starkness in which Guyanese find themselves. It is what could get worse.

Commissioner Hicken has his work cut out for him. How does a commissioner function, deliver, when close to half of the population, at a minimum, harbor heavy feelings against his respected and professional police machinery? The political opposition has made its position clear, and though it may not hold sway over half the heads in this country, that objection still counts as a blue chip that speaks so much of so many things. As a slight aside, which group can lay serious claim to influencing the thinking of half the citizenry of Guyana? Any half. As a longer ranging aside, this whole farce about “consultations” was just held up against neon lighting and made to look for the joke that it is. To the good Guyanese folks laboring in the trenches of constitution reform, good luck and godspeed, which I think abandoned Guyana a long time ago. Sorry for the detour(s), but now back to basics. When Commissioner Clifton, any Top Cop, looks at the reality of having to manage a national police apparatus, that line standing between civilization and chaos, and a solid percentage of his troops operate in the twilight zone of the law, then severe doubts arise as whether that could ever amount to law enforcement. Or, more realistically, it is so chronic as to invite interpretations about what is criminal. Lapses at senior levels in the police entity. Lapses involving millions in money. Lapses that point to those who cannot keep their hands to themselves, or their proclivities under control, or the clothes properly in place. (For precedents and case studies, the record of the PPP as a party and ‘guvment’ is given as a powerful reference). Lapses involving leakages of sensitive information not to the media, but to those targeted. Lapses that compel the US DEA et al to leave out the local police from a big bust down south. So that everybody feels safe and secure in their endeavors, all of this is in the realm of that hazy but feared creature out of Mazaruni called ‘alleged.’

Though the surface has only been scratched and with the slightest of touches, clearly the road ahead for Commissioner Hicken looks rockier and rockier. Some of the ethical and moral infrastructural works that the PPP Government’s leadership torture themselves over should be to his advantage, if they are given life and vitality. The risk for Commissioner Clifton is that he could go down in the history of the Guyana Police Force as the, the, ah, lesser than the most disappointing Top Cop that this country ever had. It would take some doing but, according to the PNC Opposition, Mr. Hicken has had a good head start. For sure, the record is nether scintillating nor thrilling. Minister of Home Affairs Benn and Attorney General Nandlall, two Guyanese gifted with extraordinary insights, could find themselves tasked with extensive media duties. The two-word term for such work is damage control. In Guyana, that is as much culture as well as an industry bigger than the one Exxon pilots.

Taking all this into consideration, and with so much hanging unmentioned, what should Guyanese expect from their uncrowned Commissioner of Police? Please, let there be no midnight visits. Nor daily surveillance of citizens who are more law-abiding than the entire PPP Government put together. Or any member of it. I can produce the backing for those two assertions. Please, Mr. Commissioner, no more of these questionable activities by professionals, then the silence, then the coverups, then the next incident. None of this makes any sense. All this only makes Guyanese live with fury and insecurity. Oh, and I almost forgot, no more politically orchestrated and motivated actions from the Guyana Police Force. No commissioner should want to go down in history as being a benign or bold participant in what has the odor and the color of creeping autocracy. Those who live with it, know it. They spit on other ivory tower definitions. It is like insisting to an honest working class citizen that the cost of living is not a problem when he has a distressing problem paying for basic food items.

The conclusion is that Commissioner Clifton Hicken will do well, justify the faith vested in him. The only interest left is twofold. First, what is the meaning of ‘well’ and that is conditioned on the direction of law enforcement that he chooses. Second, that business about the faith placed on his heavy head: whose faith and for what results. Congratulations may still be due to Commissioner Clifton. But first Commissioner Hicken must navigate his way successfully towards the priorities of citizens. If not, then the condolences will take on a life of their own. Not for the commissioner but for law-abiding citizens of this Republic.