Rastafari community calls for independent investigation and police reform

May 01, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

The Rastafari community takes this opportunity to extend our condolences to the Younge family on the unfortunate loss of the life of Ms. Adriana Younge on Thursday, April 24 at the Double Day Hotel under questionable circumstances.

We also take this opportunity to stand in solidarity with the international call for justice led by an independent and impartial investigative entity, and a comprehensive reform of the Guyana Police Force, since Guyanese have lost complete trust and confidence in it.

We are deeply concerned about the psychological well-being of the members of the Younge’s family, not to mention friends and classmates of Adriana. Since this tragic alleged murder occurred and everything that has happened subsequently, we’ve not seen any type of psychosocial support offered to help the family process their trauma and grief. The country was traumatized too, since this entire tragedy played out on social media, and is grieving together with the family. All of us will therefore need to go through some form of psychological processing, however, healing must begin with the family.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Adriana, all Guyanese agree that the Guyana Police Force failed miserably to properly and effectively handle the matter from the moment they arrived at the crime scene. The failure to treat the scene as an official crime scene, the attempt by police to mislead the family and the nation, video evidence of members of the police force that suggest they may have actively participated in tampering with the crime scene and then started the fire that eventually consumed the buildings and destroyed much of the evidence, and the failure of the Commissioner of Police to hold a press conference on the matter, are some of the main issues that have incensed Guyanese. Consequently, we are calling for comprehensive reform of the Guyana Police Force, beginning with the immediate resignation of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Clifton Hicken, and the arrest of Assistant Commissioner Khalid Mandall and Officer Wayne Leroy Smith. We will accept nothing less than a show of goodwill on the part of the Government in dealing with the matter.

Finally, we say to Guyanese that this is a process, and we must give the process a chance to work. This doesn’t mean that we take our foot off of the accelerator and sit and wait, it means that we continue to press forward by speaking out and speaking up for justice and reform, that we continue to mobilize and demonstrate peacefully and orderly, and that we continue to denounce and disassociate ourselves from the illegal destruction of property, robbery and violence that we witnessed last night. These actions do not benefit our struggle for justice. The post-mortem by the group of independent international pathologists to determine the cause of death was the first step in the process. The second step is to have an independent international investigative entity come in to determine the manner of death. Let’s stay focused on justice.

The Rastafari community will be adding our collective voice to the call for justice for Guyana’s adopted daughter and beloved princess, Ms. Adriana Younge, with a rally and vigil at the Square of the Revolution on Thursday, May 1, 2025, from 3 pm. We invite all Guyanese to come and join us as we drum, chant, pray and express messages of condolences.

Sincerely,

Binghi Trugs

Ancient House of Nyahbinghi

Bro. Reuben 1st

Overseer of 12 Tribes of Israel

Ras Simeon

President, Guyana Rastafari Council

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