?Dear editor,

AS A kid, I couldn’t help overhearing the ladies of the house discussing the popular ‘Soap’, ‘The Young and the Restless’. I would admit that initially I found the discourse fascinating, as they re-enact each day’s instalment of the never-ending series. Unfortunately or fortunately with time, I became completely switched off, or rather came to my senses, because of a character known as Victor Newman. You see, one day, the chit-chat got really animated, because the “star-boy,” Victor Newman apparently died. The cause of death was unknown, or at least unknown to them, but that did not deter the dames real-life travel of each and every one of the painful 1000 stages of grief. By then, I’d lost interest in the daily palavering, until one day, the damsels appeared to be in significant distress, and in the process came distressingly close to shaking the one-bedroom cottage that housed 20 of us off its foundation. Out of a combination of fear and curiosity, I proceeded with great caution to investigate the cause of this off-the-Richter-Scale-level tremor. Shockingly, the celebration was around the once-dead Victor Newman, who apparently rose from the dead, with a dramatic entry via the stage door. This Christ-like phenomenon once again stimulated my interest, which was unfortunately short-lived. This God-like character, Victor Newman, apparently had a further two deaths and two resurrections. That was my limit, because, surely, he should not have done better than Christ, who only did the trick once. This elaborate expostulation was the birth of my dislike of ‘soap’ operas; all ‘soap’ operas. I hate them!

So today, a good friend called to query of me if I read Freddie Kissoon’s most recent instalment of his gossip columns. I politely reminded him that I treat ‘soap’ operas like the Coronavirus; I stay miles away from them. He reassured me that it is worth the read, providing I do so with a good dose of commonsense. You see, Freddie lost his way sometime in 2018, when he met his new political lover, Charrandass. I don’t know the exact date that this romance started, but what I do know is that it was consummated on December 21, 2018, in the Halls of the dark Parliament. It was at this point that his gossip columns took a turn for the worse, with most of the content surrounding ‘Charran’ and anyone who dislikes him. Top of that list was the APNU-AFC, who ‘Charran’ once considered his employer, until he betrayed them. As a result, the now hated ‘Charran’ sought refuge in the freezing temperatures of Canada, which precipitated the start of Freddie’s public emotional decline.

I thought it was imperative that I provide that preamble to shine some light on my trepidation of venturing into this gossip column. The gossip column of interest was March 21, which is titled, “The Key to understanding why the ballot boxes were removed”. The first infuriation was of basic semantics, which I discovered in the headline that was worded, “ballot boxes were removed.” The fact is the ballot boxes were never removed from where they were positioned. They remained in that position in the “container”. What transpired was that the ballot boxes were moved from the ACCC to the GECOM office. So once I had overcome this bit of linguistic annoyance, which was also repeated in the body of the gossip column, I bravely moved on. The first few paragraphs were very poorly written, and was a foolish attempt at justifying Roy Beepat’s actions of focusing his CCTV cameras on property that does not belong to him. His argument is weaker than the GT&T Internet supply, hence I am confident that I will only need a few lines and minimal brain matter to debunk it. Freddie, how would you respond if I were your neighbour, and proceeded to acquire sophisticated CCTV cameras and focus those cameras on all your bathrooms and the bedrooms of your daughter, your wife and yourself? Get me? Cameras are intrusive, and can provide a record of events that others might not have consented to. In many malls in western countries, especially America, you cannot go randomly making recordings of them, or security will stop you. It is well known that terrorists do video surveillances before they carry out their terrorist act, hence those restrictions. Back to my initial argument, if someone is allowed to do recordings or focus CCTV cameras on your driveway, then soon they will be in your house. Not sure if there are laws that govern this, but commonsense would suggest that it is just not right. Roy Beepat should focus his CCTV cameras on his property, and any reasonable public space, e.g. the road. Extending his CCTV cameras to the ACCC would not be considered reasonable. If he wishes, he could have joined the ballot-box-guarding brigade, but he cannot be making recordings of a property that does not belong to him, especially after he was warned.
Then Freddie went into this ridiculous argument that the political parties were not informed that the boxes were being moved. Not sure why they should be informed, since it is highly unlikely that anyone can gain access to a moving container, which has police outriders and a million peering eyes, to tamper with the highly-secured ballot boxes. The fact is that the ballot boxes were being taken to GECOM where they were housed since March 2, with no foolish political party standing guard. Why do the parties need to be informed now? To stand guard over secured locked-away ballot boxes which were lying in the compound for over a week when none of the foolish parties had no interest in them.

Freddie then argued that the ballot boxes were being returned to GECOM to be tampered with. This is the usual hogwash emanating from Freddie’s mouth, with not an iota of evidence to support his ridiculous claim. He even went further to argue that the process that will be used to tamper with the ballot boxes is a high-level State secret that he cannot discuss in his gossip columns. Seriously! If they are such high- level State secret, then how the hell he found out? Secondly, if he wished for the Government to be caught red-handed tampering with the ballot boxes, using this sophisticated technique, then I would have thought that he would not have made them aware that he and others are on to their tricks.

It was Dr. Sam Sillington, the former adviser to SOCU, who in a Kaieteur News interview, made the point that grand corruption under the PPP is impossible to prove, because the evidence are either locked away, burnt, or missing. The point that Dr. Sillington and now myself are making is that no sensible white-collar criminal would commit a white- collar crime and leave evidence that is easily accessible. Freddie Kissoon has claimed from Day One, without an iota of evidence, that APNU-AFC rigged the election. Those ballot boxes were in the said GECOM compound for over a week before they were transported to the ACCC. If the APNU-AFC had rigged the elections and had access to the ballot boxes for over one week, why would they not complete the job then? Why would they wait until they transport the boxes to the ACCC, where there was more visibility, then try tampering with them, right under the noses of the brigade of political ballot box guards and interfering Roy Beepat? Also, why would they then return the boxes to GECOM compound, when more people would be on the alert to their plans, and then try to tamper with the boxes? If the Government or GECOM wanted to tamper with the boxes, they would have done so from the inception, when it was alleged that they tampered with the spreadsheets and SoPs. Why would they do so now when all eyes are on the boxes? It is either I am missing something, or Freddie is completely foolish.

Freddie would honestly believe that the entire Guyana is as cretinous as he. Thankfully, they are not. Thankfully, they know the difference between move and remove. I do sympathise with those students who came under his tutelage. I do believe that the university should do a Commission of Inquiry into what transpired when those students were miseducated, with a view to re-educating them. Guyana is now an oil-producing country, and we need as many intelligent professionals as we can possible have, to develop it. Presently, we have one too many idiots.
Regards,

Dr. Mark Devonish