Dear Editor,
I am compelled to ask “Who in the world is former EPA Head Dr Vincent Adams, and what in the world is he saying?’ I was livid when I flagged his latest concoction in the press, where he claimed that the “Govt. breached environmental law with Wales gas project” (Oct 11, 2026)
I must remind Guyanese that Dr Adams’s own air is murky, and so too are his pronouncements. While he postures as an authentic ‘champion of environmental law’ and ‘regulatory purity’, the public needs to be instructionally reminded of his actual dismal track record. No question about it – His tenure as Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the APNU+AFC coalition administration was marked by the very political compromises, administrative failures, and procedural breaches he now seeks to condemn, as his assumptions convey the impression, that Mr Khemraj (and by extension, the PPP,) is perpetuating what used to be Adams’ norms.
Let me illustrate a few of these well-documented failures, starting with financial and procurement breaches and irregularities. We all recall that under his watch, established state procurement and financial procedures were severely compromised. Clandestine ways of doings things were the norm. Most notably, we recall how internal audits highlight that over US$47,000 of the EPA’s state funds was improperly approved and surreptitiously diverted to cover the private medical expenses of an entity official. This ghost remains totally ensconced.
Furthermore, there was that heinous complicity during the 2020 election crisis. Dr Adams still serves as a high-ranking executive member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), and critics and citizens well remember his complete failure to condemn documented attempts by coalition officials to derail the democratic process during the tense, five-month post-election standoff in 2020. This overt political alignment heavily and permanently compromised his ‘claimed objectivity’ as an independent public servant. He now is most caustic, seeking to condemn what he cannot prove, thinking that maybe the public has forgotten his duplicity.
We must necessarily also examine his environmental double standards. Dr Adams has morphed into a dis-liker of the PPP Government. He is now ‘weaponising environmental laws’ only after losing his state apparatus position. During his actual leadership under the APNU+AFC administration, he repeatedly failed to aggressively enforce statutory rules or challenge omissions occurring under his own government. His environmental “crusade” only materialised after his contract was terminated in late 2020. Pathetic!
Finally, there was a stark failure to build up the agency capacity, but yet he is frequently criticising the current EPA’s technical competence. In fact, Dr Adams left the agency virtually unchanged. He failed to legally structure or expand the EPA’s human and technical capacity, leaving it entirely dependent on foreign interventions to audit complex offshore operations instead of establishing true local institutional independence.
Therefore, I urge the public to view Dr Adams’ current commentary not as objective technical analysis, but as highly politicised rhetoric. It is designed to distract from his own historical failures and administrative shortcomings. He is part of a cabal, whose members, after failing, are now condemning.
I am compelled to ask “Who in the world is former EPA Head Dr Vincent Adams, and what in the world is he saying?’ I was livid when I flagged his latest concoction in the press, where he claimed that the “Govt. breached environmental law with Wales gas project” (Oct 11, 2026)
I must remind Guyanese that Dr Adams’s own air is murky, and so too are his pronouncements. While he postures as an authentic ‘champion of environmental law’ and ‘regulatory purity’, the public needs to be instructionally reminded of his actual dismal track record. No question about it – His tenure as Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the APNU+AFC coalition administration was marked by the very political compromises, administrative failures, and procedural breaches he now seeks to condemn, as his assumptions convey the impression, that Mr Khemraj (and by extension, the PPP,) is perpetuating what used to be Adams’ norms.
Let me illustrate a few of these well-documented failures, starting with financial and procurement breaches and irregularities. We all recall that under his watch, established state procurement and financial procedures were severely compromised. Clandestine ways of doings things were the norm. Most notably, we recall how internal audits highlight that over US$47,000 of the EPA’s state funds was improperly approved and surreptitiously diverted to cover the private medical expenses of an entity official. This ghost remains totally ensconced.
Furthermore, there was that heinous complicity during the 2020 election crisis. Dr Adams still serves as a high-ranking executive member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), and critics and citizens well remember his complete failure to condemn documented attempts by coalition officials to derail the democratic process during the tense, five-month post-election standoff in 2020. This overt political alignment heavily and permanently compromised his ‘claimed objectivity’ as an independent public servant. He now is most caustic, seeking to condemn what he cannot prove, thinking that maybe the public has forgotten his duplicity.
We must necessarily also examine his environmental double standards. Dr Adams has morphed into a dis-liker of the PPP Government. He is now ‘weaponising environmental laws’ only after losing his state apparatus position. During his actual leadership under the APNU+AFC administration, he repeatedly failed to aggressively enforce statutory rules or challenge omissions occurring under his own government. His environmental “crusade” only materialised after his contract was terminated in late 2020. Pathetic!
Finally, there was a stark failure to build up the agency capacity, but yet he is frequently criticising the current EPA’s technical competence. In fact, Dr Adams left the agency virtually unchanged. He failed to legally structure or expand the EPA’s human and technical capacity, leaving it entirely dependent on foreign interventions to audit complex offshore operations instead of establishing true local institutional independence.
Therefore, I urge the public to view Dr Adams’ current commentary not as objective technical analysis, but as highly politicised rhetoric. It is designed to distract from his own historical failures and administrative shortcomings. He is part of a cabal, whose members, after failing, are now condemning.
Yours truly,
Jaideo Jairam
Jaideo Jairam
Contents
Dear Editor,
I am compelled to ask “Who in the world is former EPA Head Dr Vincent Adams, and what in the world is he saying?’ I was livid when I flagged his latest concoction in the press, where he claimed that the “Govt. breached environmental law with Wales gas project” (Oct 11, 2026)
I must remind Guyanese that Dr Adams’s own air is murky, and so too are his pronouncements. While he postures as an authentic ‘champion of environmental law’ and ‘regulatory purity’, the public needs to be instructionally reminded of his actual dismal track record. No question about it – His tenure as Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the APNU+AFC coalition administration was marked by the very political compromises, administrative failures, and procedural breaches he now seeks to condemn, as his assumptions convey the impression, that Mr Khemraj (and by extension, the PPP,) is perpetuating what used to be Adams’ norms.
Let me illustrate a few of these well-documented failures, starting with financial and procurement breaches and irregularities. We all recall that under his watch, established state procurement and financial procedures were severely compromised. Clandestine ways of doings things were the norm. Most notably, we recall how internal audits highlight that over US$47,000 of the EPA’s state funds was improperly approved and surreptitiously diverted to cover the private medical expenses of an entity official. This ghost remains totally ensconced.
Furthermore, there was that heinous complicity during the 2020 election crisis. Dr Adams still serves as a high-ranking executive member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), and critics and citizens well remember his complete failure to condemn documented attempts by coalition officials to derail the democratic process during the tense, five-month post-election standoff in 2020. This overt political alignment heavily and permanently compromised his ‘claimed objectivity’ as an independent public servant. He now is most caustic, seeking to condemn what he cannot prove, thinking that maybe the public has forgotten his duplicity.
We must necessarily also examine his environmental double standards. Dr Adams has morphed into a dis-liker of the PPP Government. He is now ‘weaponising environmental laws’ only after losing his state apparatus position. During his actual leadership under the APNU+AFC administration, he repeatedly failed to aggressively enforce statutory rules or challenge omissions occurring under his own government. His environmental “crusade” only materialised after his contract was terminated in late 2020. Pathetic!
Finally, there was a stark failure to build up the agency capacity, but yet he is frequently criticising the current EPA’s technical competence. In fact, Dr Adams left the agency virtually unchanged. He failed to legally structure or expand the EPA’s human and technical capacity, leaving it entirely dependent on foreign interventions to audit complex offshore operations instead of establishing true local institutional independence.
Therefore, I urge the public to view Dr Adams’ current commentary not as objective technical analysis, but as highly politicised rhetoric. It is designed to distract from his own historical failures and administrative shortcomings. He is part of a cabal, whose members, after failing, are now condemning.Yours truly,
Jaideo JairamDiscover more from Guyana Times
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Source: Guyana Times
