What’s happening… with Police Corruption

So what’s happening with the case against former COP Calvin Brutus who’s been facing since later 2024 some off (very odd!!) charges for corruption regarding the $500MILLION he had in bank accounts and another $300MILLION he owned in assets like houses etc!! Last your Eyewitness heard was in early January the case was called before Magistrate Magusty but was postponed to Jan 22 – then a numbing silence!! What gives?? The case epitomised the rot that had set into the Police Force for decades and has resulted it becoming one of the least trusted institutions in the country!! Folks trust them less that politicians – which is like saying they’re lower than a snake’s belly!!
Now, your Eyewitness would be foolish indeed if he were to condemn the entire Guyana Police Force. Surely in an organisation of some 4500 men and women who’ve literally been given the power of life and death over their fellow citizens, some of them gonna abuse those powers. And in Guyana we don’t have to “imagine” what forms those harassment take, do we?? Police “harassment” has been a part and parcel of Guyanese life ever since the police force was formed in 1839!! It wasn’t no coincidence this was the very next year following the abolition of slavery, was it?? Did you think they were told to “serve and protect” those folks who’d been treated like animals for the preceding two hundred years??
Their job was to protect the SYSTEM and the whites who ran the system!! Up to independence most of the officers were whites, weren’t they?? During the riots in the run-up to independence the name of British Police Commissioner, Peter Owen, struck fear in the ordinary people. And that attitude never really changed. Burnham picked up right where the British left off and he ensured an enlarged Police Force was personally loyal to him. All those who didn’t want to toe his line it was “off with their heads”!!
So the natural propensity of folks to abuse their power was coupled with the free reign Burnham gave the police to harass folks who opposed him. Many policemen were even part of the “kick-down-the-door-bandits” squads up to the late eighties – until Hoyte brought in his “hang-em-high” policy!! The GPF that the PPP inherited in 1992, had been corrupted through and through.
Fearing a political backlash, rather than immediately launching a root and branch revamping and reorientation of the GPF, they patted the heads of the top brass as they attempted to implement some reforms. In the PNC return between 2015 and 2020 Granger reversed all of that by subverting the entire leadership structure of the GPF.
Brutus and his excesses is an inevitable consequence of that policy!!

…in politics
It ain’t easy being in politics in Guyana nowadays!! Used to be since folks voted mostly racially, it was already a foregone conclusion as to who’d win – that just depended on the colour of the various noses in the horse race!! But now things are different: the noses are almost equal in number – which created a dilemma to the old order. Suddenly, you gotta be nice to everybody since the least missteps could cost you those crucial fence sitters noses!!
Norton and his PNC just couldn’t appreciate this change and kept on trying to cash a check that had long been overdrawn at the (vote) bank!! He lost out to Sanction Man who kept things simple: he offered bribes to all races to support him!! With everything hanging out in social media – since the content’s available to everyone with a smartphone –meaning EVERYBODY – Norton literally had the ru=g pulled from under his feet!!
Ain’t no coming back – even if Sanction Man keeps his appointment in Miami!!

…in Old Blighty
Americans always had a thing for the Brits after they threw out old Henry III back in 1776. Seems that King Charles’ brother – Duke Andrew – mined that weakness. Even as Epstein mined his personal weaknesses for young girls!!