DC Karimbaksh, who’s for the victim, what’s next?

DC Karimbaksh, who’s for the victim, what’s next?

OPINION BY: GHK LALL October 2026

Deputy Comm of Police and Organized Crime Unit head, Mr. Karimbaksh, is swinging.  In for the fight against the rape and intimidation allegations directed at him.  May truth, fair play, and justice be the winner.  I grapple with a challenge: allegations of crimes committed, and featured principals in the role of victims.  There’s no pretense of knowing the way out of this maze.  Still, some thoughts are shared.  Hoping they help.  Enlighten, at least.

DC Karimbaksh must be recognized for the strength of his defense.  Only the commission can pronounce on whether he stays or goes.  Hence, the Commissioner of Police, Dr. Hicken, must retreat.  He did.  Must have required lots of incentivizes for  Guyana’s Top Cop to swallow that pill.  Beyond, his legal defense, there could be the familiar at work.  For who is Mr. Karimbaksh, if not the man who sees and knows where many of the high-level frauds occur, and the parties whose names surface repeatedly.  Those files must be worth something.  If nothing else, induces high-level backtracking.  It’s old Wall Street: know where the bodies are buried; or, more crudely, CYA.  Translation: take precautions, cover yah bum.  Who in the Police, who in the PPP Govt, is going to mess with that reality?  Where is this going to lead, end?

Mr. Karimbaksh lingers.  The victim languishes.  Since, Minister Vindya Persaud has been busy, developed a severe case of the cold (in her feet), the heavy lifting is mine, by default.  C’mon Minister Vindya, have a conscience.  How many of these exercises in seeking light and clarity can one man manage?  This is where Hotlines, Hot programs, and the heat of ministerial concerns and interests have an opportunity to prove themselves.  This where, Because We Care takes over.  This is where, the superstar from Carmichael and Middle Streets can face Facebook audiences and insist that Guyana is about the rule of law, and not of men. 

He is pardoned for leaving out that Guyana (the govt) has to be sensitive to what is in SOCU files, and how much disruption that could cause.  Where to next?

Indeed, DC Karimbaksh is fighting for his professional life.  Who in the PPP Govt is taking a stand for the victim?  Fighting with their all for her?  At last visit, I recall that there was a victim.  A daughter of Guyana is reeling from her ordeal.  Her champions have fled.  This is where it all comes crumbling down in an ignominious heap, with a mushroom cloud of rot staining the air.  One warrior spoke of accountability.  What is that, and where is it?  Another bigshot loves to regale Guyanese with anancy stories about the law?  Where is he?  The law: its policies, procedures and practices cannot only have application when John Doe is involved.  Can’t be about one for the strong, the opposite for the weak.  Nor the same standard for the poor and the best for the rich.

There have been too many of these, shall I say, contradictions, in too tight a span of time.  The U.S. Ambassador has to be unhappy that her cushy posting has become a nightmare of lawlessness (more later).  I can recognize a fighter; DC Karimbaksh has taken some on the chin, stays for more.  I regret that he didn’t go on his own, still resists doing so.  But he must know what I don’t, along with ordinary Guyanese.  In recognizing Mr. Karimbaksh’s right to fight, there is a higher call to give a brace to a victim in distress.  She suffers from a major disadvantage: neither presidential nor ministerial champs.  Not willfully on their part; simply the demands of governance and leadership that require proper prioritizing. 

And, being street smart enough to steer away from danger areas.  A rape allegation against a gatekeeper and powerbroker represents danger.  For the third time, there must be movement, the will, to eliminate a stalemate that desecrates.