The main Parliamentary Opposition, APNU and AFC, has rushed to the defence of retired Assistant Police Commissioner, Paul Slowe amid an ongoing probe into sexual offence allegations.
In a missive issued on Friday, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition said that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was harassing Slowe, a day after the body issued a statement informing of an investigation.
It said, “The Guyana Police Force is investigating another allegation, made under the Sexual (Offences) Act of Guyana, by a woman against Paul Slowe, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and former Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).”
The latest investigation comes three years after Slowe was slapped with three counts of sexual assault charges committed against a female. These charges are still pending in the Magistrate’s Court.
According to police, Slowe, despite being charged with these offences, has been exhibiting “criminal behaviour” on social media with his “malicious attacks on the female victim, thereby causing her to endure more trauma and irreparable harm”.
But the Opposition is adamant that the government and “rogue” senior ranks were harassing Slowe “for what appears to be another attempt to trump up charges against a man who has served the Guyana Police Force with distinction”.
“While the Police and the PPP are harassing Mr. Slowe it is protecting those senior officers in the GPF and the government that are accused of bribery and corruption and bringing the police force into disrepute.
The actions of the GPF and its political masters who have corrupted, politicised, mismanaged and de-professionalized the Force are clearly aimed at silencing Mr. Slowe who has been exposing the corruption, malpractices and incompetence in the GPF and the PPP government,” the Office said.
It added that the GPF needs to be focused on tackling crime and weeding out from its ranks those who are involved in illegal activities.
The office noted that the “unwillingness” of the GPF to investigate crimes allegedly committed by those in office and particularly the allegations of bribery and corruption against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that emerged from the Vice News documentary.
“The Opposition calls on the Guyana Police Force to desist from targeting Mr. Slowe who retired from the Force as a respectable policeman with his integrity intact and enforce the law against those who break the law,” the Office of the Leader of the Opposition concluded.
