Conscience is the fulcrum on which civilization stands

Dec 30, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

This is one human on Planet Earth that don’t give a damn what people say and think of him. This is a law of human society. You fall by the wayside when you become preoccupied with what people say about you. Life is about obligation and conscience. They are priceless values that hold civilization together.
You have an obligation to the people who love, protect and provide for you. It begins and ends there. What I am about to say here in relation to someone very close to me is the truth. Whoever thinks it is a fictional account, then that is their business, not mine.
This article is about the role of conscience in humans. It is motivated by the Charrandass Persaud situation. He said conscience was the factor in him voting against his government so it can fall. I accept conscience as the fulcrum of which civilization stands.
My wife worked as a state employee for fourteen years at GO-Invest, where she was an investment officer. During her time there, the government was led by the PPP. My wife never, even for one moment, discussed the nature of her work with me. Some humans are like that. Many humans are like that. My wife saw herself as serving her country, not her husband’s politics. She never discussed politics with me. She never discussed her professional work with me. I never sought political dialogue with her. I never enquired what she was doing at GO-Invest.
If you cannot believe that, then you do not know a damn thing about the nature of humans. Mental thinking comes in countless forms. Had I ever ask my wife to tell me what was going on at GO-Invest, I think our marriage would have broken down. She would have seen me as a hypocrite. She would have said that the very values I was fighting for, I was asking her to violate.
I hate to be personal, but the publication of the personal factor here is to underscore the role of conscience in life. The conscience my wife carried led her to serve her country without being influenced by her husband’s politics.
People are denying Charrandass’ motive of conscience. He is being derogated for citing conscience. They are attributing conspiratorial and financial motives to him. But could it not be conscience?
Was it conscience when Daniel Ellsberg as a civil servant violated the security laws of the US Government and released secret files that revealed the US government’s illegal role in the Vietnam War? Today most people in the world have a level of respect for Ellsberg.
Was it conscience when the deputy head of the FBI, Mark Felt, was secretly feeding the Washington Post classified information on President Nixon’s illegal involvement in the cover-up of Watergate?
Was it conscience that led Chelsea Manning to violate US espionage laws by giving the world’s top newspapers details of American atrocities in the occupation of Iraq? Manning was charged and sentenced, but pardoned by President Obama.
Was it conscience that led Edward Snowden to publicly reveal that US security agencies were collecting data on the personal lives of a majority of Americans?
The priceless value of conscience was on display for the entire world to see at the Nuremberg Trial. The judges did not accept the reasons given by dozens and dozens of accused for why Nazi underlings murdered countless persons. They simply said they had to follow orders. In what situation does an order conflict with conscience?
This is where Charrandass Persaud’s action comes in. Charrandass’ explanation of conscience should be considered. If it can be proven that Persaud was conspiratorial and devious, then, the evidence will make him permanently infamous. But until allegations of bribery become evidential, the conscience polemic cannot easily be dismissed
This is how Persaud exonerates himself using conscience. He said he was the Region 6 representative in Parliament, but was a rubber stamp, in that he was given no political authority to serve the interests of Region 6. He argued that when one of the most historical decisions in Guyanese history – the closure of the sugar estates – was made, he read about it in the press.
For two years as a close friend, Charrandass told me he wanted to leave politics because APNU+AFC’s governance was not essentially different from the PPP’s lust for power. At a birthnight party on David Street, Kitty, he told me only his safety concern would deter him from voting for a no-confidence vote. When the vote did come, he confided in me. I kept it secret because my conscience and obligation were to my country and not unaccountable politicians.

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