NOTHING shocks me in the realm of politics in this country, but I have to confess that Kit Nascimento’s words about what Chris Ram did him indeed shocked me. You can produce books on Mr Ram’s criticisms of the government because he is a relentless critic of the ruling party.

Here are the words of Mr Nascimento in his published letter: “I have received an e-mail from one of Mr Ram’s Legal Clerk [sic] with an attachment of a filing in the Supreme Court Registry, notifying the Court that Mr Ram has withdrawn as my Attorney as a Defendant in a case against me for defamation from former President, David Arthur Granger. Mr Ram neither had the courage to discuss nor consult with me before so acting.”

If this is true, it comes at an advantageous time for the ruling PPP. We are in an election campaign period and it will dent the credibility of the opposition that berates the government non-stop on lack of accountability.

How can Mr Ram, a perennial preacher against the government, not see that he has to set a standard that is higher than those he criticises?

Are people going to give serious consideration to Mr Ram’s thoughts on government’s flaw in the context of what Mr Nascimento is accusing him off?  It is two weeks since Mr Nascimento made that accusation against Ram and we are yet to see a reaction from Ram?

The accountability deficit seems to touch all those who condemn state behaviour, of which the latest sinner cannot be found in three opposition parties.

Ms Amanza Walton-Desir has merged her organisation, Forward Guyana” with two other small parties. The merger took place in front of the media. Then came a bombshell that should be a warning to voters.

The three parties refused to make the merger document public and refused to field questions from the media. It was after moments of embarrassment and hypocrisy were manifested that the three parties relented. This should be a stark warning to voters.

These people want your vote, but they are not prepared to be accountable to the Guyanese people. The voters got a taste of what these people really are. If they are not in power as yet and they are unaccountable and arrogant, think of how they will behave if they have power.

But the hypocrisy within the political merger was matched by the Stabroek News (SN) that reported on the launching of the coalition of these three parties. The SN devoted almost half a page on the launching, but not a word was printed on the commotion that followed when the leaders of the three parties refused to take questions from the media.

The journalists who were present protested the position of the three parties in refusing to take questions. This is the very newspaper that is more relentless than Christopher Ram in bashing the government every day for all the crimes in the world. But it didn’t see that it was committing the very malignant behaviour that it accuses the government of.

Then there is the new kid on the block – Azruddin Mohamed. When a Trinidadian journalist began to put questions to him about the sanctions against him by the American government, he was abusive to the man.

So, we have Ram, Walton-Desir and her party colleagues and Azruddin Mohamed lambasting the government on a daily basis, but do they have the credibility to castigate the society?

Ram is not contesting the elections so the burden is less on him to show his obligations to the Guyanese people. But Walton-Desir and her coalition partners and Mohamed are asking people to vote for them  so they can govern Guyana. But do they have the leadership qualities to do so?

It was certainly an eye-opener when Walton-Desir and her fellow politicians accepted questions only after the press protested their undemocratic decision. The least said of Mohamed, the better.

I have always argued since I was a very young columnist with the Catholic Standard and the Stabroek News that people cannot criticise the use of power when they are in no moral position to do so. This has been a thread running through my columns the past 36 years.

There are many more accusations to make against those who want to remove the PPP. Two issues call for separate columns which I will shortly compose. One is the illegal expulsion of the three AFC parliamentarians that left the AFC to go over to APNU. The other is Nigel Hughes’ position on David Hinds, should Nigel join Hinds in a coalition with APNU. I close by saying – be careful how you vote.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.