Leader of the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) and Opposition Member of Parliament Amanza Walton is demanding answers, accountability and justice over allegations of sexual abuse within the Guyana Police Force.
On 20 January 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced that the Criminal Investigation Department and the Office of Professional Responsibility had been directed to commence full investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation, abuse of authority and misconduct at the Guyana Police Force Academy.
In a publicly released statement, Walton said that when the Budget Estimates for the Ministry of Home Affairs were considered in the National Assembly on 13 February 2026, she asked Minister Oneidge Walrond, whether the investigation had commenced. According to Walton, the Minister assured the House that she was certain it had.
Walton said she then sought to ask when the investigation would be concluded, but Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir disallowed the question before it could be put.
“That is what happened in our Parliament. A Member of Parliament sought to ask when an investigation into sexual abuse within the Police Force would be completed, and the Speaker prevented the question from being asked,” Walton said.
She argued that the incident was indicative of a broader problem in which allegations of misconduct are not adequately addressed.
“This is precisely how this conduct survives in Guyana. It is shielded at every level, and on 13 February it was shielded in the National Assembly itself,” she said.
Walton-Desir said the concerns surrounding sexual misconduct within the Police Force predated the latest allegations.
She pointed to March 2020, when Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean submitted a report to the Police Service Commission concerning complaints by two female trainees of the Felix Austin Police College against a Senior Superintendent.
“The report found that nothing presented disproved or discredited their allegations and that there was enough prima facie evidence to support a criminal charge of sexual harassment under the Prevention of Discrimination Act,” Walton-Desir said.
She noted that the officer was never criminally charged and is now a Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Walton-Desir said a female police inspector has now publicly alleged that the same officer sexually assaulted her on two occasions and threatened to shoot her.
“These allegations have not been tested, and they must be investigated fully and without interference,” she said.
“No woman in this country should ever be made to choose between her safety and her job, and no woman should be punished for refusing,” she said.
She further argued that accountability mechanisms are meaningless if institutions protect those accused of wrongdoing.
“That right means nothing if those who violate it are protected by the very institutions charged with holding them to account, and it is the duty of every Minister, every Commissioner and every Speaker to ensure that they are not,” Walton said.
