(Kaieteur News) – Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Waldron has sought to clarify remarks she made about a “confrontation” between a female police officer and Deputy Commissioner of Police Fizal Karimbaksh, who is facing allegations of rape, harassment and threats.
Waldron, during an online podcast, had said that a criminal investigation into the allegations was underway and that a confrontation between the two parties was expected to form part of the investigative process. “The confrontation has to be held with the team that is assigned and then after that confrontation then the matter will be adjudicated whether it is disciplinary action or criminal action. That will be for the criminal investigating department to determine and this team who is doing the investigation,” Waldron said.
Minister of Home Affairs, Oneidge Waldron
She had also indicated that because Karimbaksh is a Deputy Commissioner, a specific procedure had to be followed. Her comments, however, came under scrutiny from human rights and transparency organisations, including Red Thread and Transparency Institute Guyana (TIGI), which questioned the legal basis for such a confrontation. The groups pointed to Section 42 of Guyana’s Sexual Offences Act, which provides protections for complainants and restricts circumstances in which a complainant may be required to recount an allegation in the presence of an accused person or to be in the accused’s presence.
Responding specifically to Red Thread in a statement posted on Facebook, Waldron rejected what she described as an attempt to mischaracterise her comments.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I did not say that the complainant would be confronted by the accused. I did not mandate such a confrontation, and I have issued no instruction directing investigators to subject the complainant to any procedure contrary to the Sexual Offences Act,” Waldron said.
She explained that she was communicating information provided to her about the investigative process.
“The conduct of a criminal investigation is a matter for investigators, operating within the parameters of the law. I neither design nor direct the day-to-day investigative procedures of the Guyana Police Force,” she said.
Waldron accused Red Thread of attempting to turn her remarks into an instruction to violate the complainant’s rights, calling that interpretation “false.” The Minister also criticised what she described as Red Thread’s “predictable selectivity” in its public advocacy.
“On matters involving the PPP/C Government, it readily emerges from the shadows, often with sweeping condemnation before establishing precisely what was said and in what context,” Waldron said. She argued that advocacy is important in a democracy but contended that “selective advocacy” should not be used to attribute positions to public officials that they did not express.
Waldron also pointed to what she said was an important part of her position that had been overlooked her public call for Karimbaksh to be placed on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted.
“I publicly stated that, in my view, Deputy Commissioner Karimbaksh should be placed on administrative leave pending the investigation,” she said. The minister maintained that both the complainant’s rights and the accused officer’s right to due process must be protected. “The complainant is entitled to the full protection afforded by law, including the applicable protections under the Sexual Offences Act. Equally, the person against whom allegations have been made is entitled to due process,” she said. Waldron said investigators must ensure that both protections are upheld and insisted that the matter should be determined by evidence rather than public pressure. “I remain resolute that the investigation must be professional, impartial and thorough. Let the investigators investigate. Let the evidence determine the outcome. And let the law take its course,” she said.
Source: Kaieteur News
