Vincent Alexander needs to calm his mind in Alexander’s house

Aug 26, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – The house of Vincent Alexander at Lot 3, Vincent Alexander Street in Madrid is a lovely place. The street was named after Alexander himself. The house is called Velintonio. Because of its location, and the deserted nature of the home, it is the kind of ambience you need to be part of in order to remove the cobwebs from your mind when political controversies push you to the limit.

GECOM’s commissioner, Vincent Alexander needs to visit Velintonio, spend a few days there and with the invading placidity and ensuing mental calmness, compose his explanation to the Guyanese people and all Africans who live in the world about two things in relation to the International Decade of the People of African Descent – Guyana Chapter IDPADA-G.

He needs to make that trip to the house in Spain that bears his name ASAP because those two things are swirling around Guyana like when pieces of paper fly around when a storm tosses everything into the air. The curiosity surrounding those two things has grown thicker with an unfavourable comment on Vincent by the Rastafari Council.

The first dimension is how was IDPADA-G constituted? There was a dispute six year ago in IDPADA-G about who really was its chief. I remember the names of both Vincent and Eric Philips were mentioned.

If you are going to form a Guyanese chapter of IDPADA to represent African Guyanese which take in 29 percent of the population plus a few more percent of mixed race people that identify as African then that entity has to come to birth through extensive consultations with a large percentage of the Guyanese population.

The eventual birth of IDPADA-G then has to comprise of hundreds of groups. Vincent needs to publish an enumeration of those groups. He has to tell us when the election for leadership began? What was the format for nominations and the results of the election? What was the margin of victory for the contenders?

The Rastafari Council recently announced the following statement: “Imagine more than 40 groups in the assembly and the 3 signatories to the bank account, all come from Cuffy 250. IDPADA-G was basically hijacked by Cuffy 250 and funded by the former government to campaign during the last election.”

The Rastafari Council’s statement made some formidable accusations against Vincent himself which cannot be repeated here but they are in the public domain so others may access it. It is impossible for Vincent to retain any credibility if he does not reply to the Council.

The second dimension is the money IDPADA- G has received from the state. It was disclosed that slightly under half a billion dollars was assigned to IDPADA-G over a four-year period.

When you have that kind of money coming from the public purse then accountability has to be tight and waterproof. What it means then is that a small group of persons had/have access to half a billion dollars of public money. That is a lot of state funds to put in the hands of a tiny group of persons.

There has to be a meticulous account of those funds and every civil society group, every political party, every NGO should offer a comment on this situation because those very entities have a stuck record which preaches that government must be transparent and accountable.

There are several questions that must be asked of the current leadership of IDPADA-G. First, when it was formed in 2018 did the constitution incorporate term limits? If no, then by Vincent’s pronouncement more than 10 years, ago, IDPADA-G has to accept term limits. I remember more than 12 years ago, he posited that the leaders of political parties should face term limits.

Secondly, is IDPADA-G essentially a general, social entity or a political organisation? One must remember at all times, that there are countless Africans in this country who do not support African organisations like ADCA, the PNC, Cuffy 250. They are African Guyanese who embrace other entities. For example, the PPP has high-powered African names among its midst. Clement Rohee, an African Guyanese was the legal, de jure leader of the PPP.

IDPADA-G wrote the visiting team of CARICOM Prime Ministers in April 2020 requesting that they take into consideration the ethnic problem of Guyana rather than rely on elections as a solution to Guyana’s governance problems.

When IDPADA-G did so, in whose interest was it acting? Was it African Guyanese in general or the PNC? Many of IDPADA-G leaders are on the team planning a symposium on the appearance of apartheid in Guyana. Did they consult the Africans in the PPP leadership?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)