The Vincent Adams controversy continues to expose hypocritical minds
by Freddie Kissoon
In many powerful countries in the world, a person can lose his/her important job through the brief mention of a derogatory word in relation to homosexuality or race. It has happened literally countless times and as recent as last week in the US.
People are not expected in this country to vilify others using the N and C word. In a young population like this, those emanations can affect youthful, pliable minds. Those who say approving things about slavery, the Holocaust, etc and echo nasty sentiments about the race of others, indicate what type of character such humans are made of.
The Dr. Vincent Adams controversy is still swirling and each time I read words of support for him, my mind is lacerated by the total contempt his supporters have for moral obligations in society. If there are people in this country who do not place emphasis on the evil of rigged elections; then they are damn fools who have no right to speak on any issue at all. It is as simple as that.
Having an unelected government ruling a country is bound to destroy it. What can be more destructive and dangerous than that? People who care about freedom, justice and life itself, cannot treat the rigging of national elections anywhere as just another routine act of human failings.
Look what is happening in China and Russia. The Chinese president has inserted into the constitution his words of wisdom and his thoughts on life. Why should the constitution, a priceless, sacred document of country, be amended to incorporate the words of its leader? If China had electoral competition, maybe that would have been an issue in the campaign and could have determined the outcome.
In Russia, Vladimir Putin is going to rule that country longer than any king or queen or any prime minister or president has ruled his/her country in the recent past. Putin sees himself as the reincarnation of the Russian Tsar. He is going to kill anyone who presents formidable challenges to him. If there were free elections in Russia, Putin would not have behaved as a tsar because the fear would be that he could lose to his competitor.
Does it seem to bother those who support Dr. Adams that Guyana has just passed through one of the most terrible periods in its entire history and made headlines around the world in the most prestigious media organizations, about the attempt to rig the national election that took five months to conclude? What took place from March to August has to sit upon the mind of those who live in this country and it must weigh heavily on their minds because of the frightening consequences if the world did not intervene.
Dr. Adams has support from some quarters for continuing in the post of executive director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after being asked to take his leave. But who is Dr. Adams? Dr. Adams is not a professional public servant who holds public office through years of service as the Vice Chancellor of UG; Manager of NIS; Director of Prisons; Commissioner of Police, head of the army, Chief Education Officer; Governor of the Bank of Guyana, and we can go on.
Dr. Adams got his EPA posting while he was a politician active in politics, sitting in the executive committee and management committee of the AFC, the two decisive decision-making compartments in that party. Dr. Adam was trusted with leading the AFC’s delegation into the dialogue with the PNC to renew the Cummingsburg Accord.
For five months in 2020 – March to August – Dr. Adams’ leadership colleagues in the APNU+AFC tried to rig the national election. While his colleague, Dominic Gaskin, came out against the fraud, to date Dr. Adams has said not half a word. After losing power, Dr. Adams’s party, the AFC, has been speaking wildly that betrays the depraved mentality of the AFC.
He has a strong, moral obligation to tell the nation if he endorses and supports the pre-August deportment of the AFC and its current wildness. If Gaskin can do it, then what prevents Dr. Adams from speaking out? If Dr. Adams feels that his life is transformed and he is finished with politics and wants to help Guyana through the EPA, then that is completely acceptable. He has my support for continuing as EPA head but not unconditionally.
Dr. Adams must tell this nation if he thinks the ruling party committed fraud during the election and therefore it did not win. He must tell us if he supports the election petition. But more importantly, will he continue to sit in the leadership of the AFC? Be a man Dr. Adams; talk to Guyana!
