Professionals should not have their job security threatened over their political affiliation once they are qualified and apolitical in the execution of their duties, dismissed Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr. Vincent Adams says.
He contends that Guyana has to move away from this type of stricture.
The Government has given no reason for sacking the highly qualified Adams last week but many of its supporters on social media have pointed out that Adams is a member of the former governing coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and that he was silent during the five-month elections impasse.
While Adams was fired, the PPP/C government has filled a number of public service positions with persons politically aligned to it.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Adams acknowledged that the onus is also on government employees to not allow their political affiliation to influence any of their office’s policy decisions and they should leave politics at the workplace gate.
“It appears here that everybody has some type of attachment to some political party but it does not mean that person will not carry out their responsibility or … carry it out in a partisan way. We can be professionals and work in accordance”, he told Stabroek News shortly after being terminated by the PPP/C government last week Monday.
“Nobody can ever tell me that I discriminated against them in any way. It is not to boast but I have worked at the highest level in the United States government and you cannot discriminate,” he added, while citing examples of how both Democrats and Republicans hold high government offices.
An AFC executive member, Adams was fired by the Irfaan Ali government after being sent on leave shortly after government took office in August.
While government has not said on what ground he was terminated, Adams said he believes that it was within their right to fire him if they did not feel comfortable that he would work along with their policy agenda, but they should have provided him with a reason.
An American citizen who lived and worked most of his adult life in the country of his naturalization, Adams said that he is disappointed in the manner of his termination, since if government felt that they did not need his services or felt he could not be a part of their team, then they should have been forthright and told him at the time they sent him off on leave.
Instead, he said he was given assurances by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to proceed on leave and return to Guyana as the government wanted to use his expertise in the oil and gas sector.
He recalled that when he had spoken to Jagdeo one of the first things in that conversation was to remind him that he is an AFC executive member.
“I said, `you know Chief, as full disclosure, let me remind you that I am an executive of the AFC’. The VP knew it wasn’t something I was hiding. He said he knows and told me ‘you are a professional and I don’t care that you belong to a political party’”, Adams recalled.
Jagdeo, according to Adams, asked that when he returned from leave that he give him (Jagdeo) a call and he said he would. “Everybody has a political affiliation. So the VP knew it isn’t something I was hiding. When he said he wants me in oil and gas, I reminded him,” he stressed.
With Jagdeo’s assurance that he return to Guyana, Adams informed that he did not pack for the long term and made plans for both him and his wife’s return.
During his leave, he said he first heard from social media that his contract would not be resumed and he tried contacting Jagdeo and the Office of the President to no avail.
He nonetheless returned to Guyana and was told to continue on leave. He continued to try to get on to both President Irfaan Ali and the Vice President to get a clear idea on if they still wanted to use his services. He was instead issued with the letter from Office of the President’s Permanent Secretary, Abena Moore, notifying him that he had been fired.
He said that he also wanted to address some public criticisms to clear the air on the taking of political positions, his silence during the elections recount and racism here in Guyana.
Blatant lie
Of word being peddled that he left Guyana during the Forbes Burnham era on a Government of Guyana scholarship and never returned, he said it was simply “a blatant lie”. He said that he is a Guyana scholar and was in the University of Guyana’s first Civil Engineering classes. The class of 12, according to Adams, was being groomed to serve the then Guyana Water Authority (GUYWA). When he graduated, he worked at GUYWA but left for the United States on a permanent visa.
“That is a blatant lie leaving this country on a Guyana scholarship. The person who wrote that was forced to withdraw it and apologized. They assumed because I went away in that time that I came under Burnham,” he said.
Born to an Indo-Guyanese mother and a mixed-race father, Adams said that while he has seen and experienced racism, growing up in Christianburg, Linden where everyone was impoverished, the main issue was survival and persons there learned to live in unity.
He said that Guyanese have to understand that for them to reap the benefits of the impending oil boom, they have to unite and focus on issues and policies and not politics and race. He reasoned that the multinationals’ objectives here are turning profits and paying their shareholders dividends and the citizens of this country must make a priority of looking out for their own as the companies do for theirs.
On his silence during the elections crisis and recount, Adams said that as a non-voting American and head of a government agency he did not see it fit to speak out, although the party has on record his stance on issues during that time.
“I would not and I had never made any political statement as Head of the EPA. I never even showed up at the Arthur Chung Centre (where the vote recount was being held) one single day or said anything. For me, it would have been irresponsible. As head of the EPA, this agency, how could I and then say I am not partisan? What am I going to add? I know I am a member of the AFC, I believe in the rule of the law and the courts. The courts made a decision and I support the decision. I know there is a petition ongoing and the courts will determine that matter …I did not believe it was appropriate for me as head of agency. If I was a politician, maybe but I am not, understand this,” he stressed.
“There was no need for me to make a public statement. Carl Greenidge never made a public statement and he was a minister. I also believe the government made a very good decision in keeping Carl because while he is a politician, he is professional,” he added.
Adams pointed out that he has friends in both of the main political groups here: the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC and their political beliefs cannot influence his views on those friendships. He recalled how former PPP/C ministers Anthony Xavier and Leslie Ramsammy would assist his Linden Fund (LF Charity) when there were medical outreaches here. Former President Donald Ramotar also came in for commendation for his support of the Linden Foundation.
Adams said that he believes that charitable work must be done from the heart and not made a public spectacle of. He said that is why he has never been public in taking pictures and announcing aid to the needy in his boyhood hometown.
Continuing his humanitarian outreach here, he said, will take priority now that he is not tied down to a 9 to 5 day job.
“I see mention was made that some people never heard of me before giving to charity. I do not make a spectacle when giving. That is not what giving is about. Of course we would announce when there are medical outreaches and the foreign specialists visiting whichever areas. But you don’t given with one hand and take pictures and boast with the next. Anyone is free to go to Linden and ask about Dr. Adams and his input into that community,” he said.
To locals, he said that he wants them to know that while he has been sacked from the EPA, he would utilize his expertise in advising on oil and gas matters here because he is concerned about the health and safety of his “Guyanese brothers and sisters” and the future generation.
He has urged Guyanese to be vigilant of environmental and safety matters and to do research to hold their leaders accountable. He advised that the internet is an extremely useful repository of information on oil and gas matters and simplifies complex issues.
