Prem Narine: a fascinating, chilling portrait

  Prem Narine: a fascinating, chilling portrait

OPINION BY: GHK LALL October 2026

The name Prem Narine registered slowly; then like a tsunami.  A detective with a difference.  Results.  A profile that expanded before the eyes, grew on the consciousness. This was of a man earmarked for special graces, one going places.

I lost track of Mr. Narine for a while.  Whenever a reminder came of his continued existence, he had a new rank; higher on the Police ladder.  The initial belief was that here was a rising star.  Guyana needs as many as it can get, but with this qualifier: their sparkle must be genuine, their light pure.  Being a reader, there’s knowledge of different types of stars.  Some are different in a dubious way; they still float higher.

There’s no recollection of Mr. Narine’s rank when I returned to Guyana.  But this fact can’t be challenged: he has risen like a rocket.  His people, the Commission, must have seen a man of considerable potential (and usefulness).  One day. elevated to Inspector, which brought a nod of approval.  Next day, there’s Senior Supt Prem Narine.  He didn’t just breeze through promotions; he blew through them like a tornado.  There’s something circular about those, I understand.  But that’s only the beginning.  Try chief of detectives alongside Guyana’s Number One Spymaster.  What a combination!  Which one is the night job, that’s my challenge?  For some reason, the well-named James Jesus Angleton, a legendary CIA chief spook, flashed across the screen of my mind.  It’s wide.  Was he a defender of the American Way!  Now, this raises a question.  What about the Guyana Way?  Then another question.

The people behind Snr Supt Narine’s grand ascension, must have great expectations of him.  What are those?  There’s the remarkable, and it staggers.  By his own mouth, six execution-style murders taken in stride, only to let them slide into oblivion.  Whatever else Mr. Narine did or didn’t do in his body of work, there’s the evidence of those murders that pointed to one man.  Yet nothing resulted.  Either he forgot, or he filed away for later use.  Like today.  There’s regard for someone so resourceful, and more.  Skepticism.  Consternation.  The chill of concern.  What else is still unrevealed, hence unknown?  What else will Snr. Supt Narine, now a shoo-in for Dep Comm (even Top Cop), not do in the interests of some consideration?  I wouldn’t say political.  Not when an officer of Narine’s caliber is involved.  But bureaucracies can be flexible, and law enforcement ones are prone to being manipulated more than most.  They are most flexible.  Consider those, fellow Guyanese (and Americans).

Here’s the fascinating and repelling part of all this, with Snr Supt Narine, as Oscar winning performer.  Six execution-style murders with evidence pointing to one citizen didn’t raise alarms, unleash fears, of a rampaging serial killer.  Recently, however, anxieties arise about ‘national security threat.’  Mr. Narine is wasted as a policeman.  He is a natural poet.  Now this officer and gentleman is the head of the national spy machinery.  Holy Mackerel!  Hallucinating time.  The symmetry is compelling.  From evidence of six execution-style murders made to disappear to ‘national security threat’ made to appear.  What gives every indication of being untouchable before (like witness protection, or confidential asset) is now exposed in broad daylight before an international audience.  What am I doing in this damned and doomed town?  I proceed.

Mr. Narine as chief sleuth is worrying.  There can still be coexisting with that title, despite all the magic it can produce, when necessary.  Mr. Narine as Guyana’s Special Branch headman is a different story.  The recommendation is that his superiors rethink and reassign the Special Branch chieftainship.  Universally, Special Branches are notorious.  Regardless of their official names.  Their heads are untouchable.  America had and has them.  Stalin had them.  The PNC had them.  The PPP have them.  Guyana had one that was on the payroll of people that are of interest to other countries.  They have incomparable reach and clout here.

This is the seat that Snr Supt Narine occupies.  Loads of trust vested.  Potential, I think.  Superiors must be pleased by his past and present output.  Guyanese, meanwhile deal in great uncertainty.          When National Spymasters are too good at that game, the people are in trouble.  The Constitution gets scrambled.  Democracy’s ideals suffer.  How will Guyana’s Chief Spymaster, Mr. Prem Narine, be tomorrow?  Recall Faulkner: the past is prelude….