2020 Elections fraud case: Josh Kanhai recounts stalling during elections recount process

As the election fraud case continued on Friday, the court viewed video footage of defendant Michelle Miller refusing to answer police questions during a 2020 interrogation, while Josh Kanhai, a former The New Movement (TNM) candidate, testified about his experiences at the Ashmin’s Building on March 5 and his involvement in the national recount between May 6 and June 8, 2020.
Following Kanhai’s testimony the hearing was adjourned and will remain in recess until October 21.

A witness for the prosecution, Kanhai recalled the chaos that unfolded at the Ashmin’s Building in Georgetown on March 5, 2020, after the then Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo declared the Region Four results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE) using numbers later deemed incorrect.
Kanhai recalled the challenge that ensued after the recount was completed on June 8, 2020, when former Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, continued to refuse to prepare an elections results report using the correct numbers that were produced in the national recount of all 10 electoral districts, and instead continued to attempt to use the numbers previously produced during Mingo’s tabulation from Statement of Polls (SOPs).
An elections agent for TNM, Kanhai recalled being directly involved in the process and watching as it all unfolded.
“The Chair woman would have enforced that she wanted the numbers to be used from the Statement of Recount. [But] on July 13, we received a letter stating that the numbers were not being used from the Statement of Recount… my party would’ve received a letter showing that the numbers were not matched to the statement of recount,” Kanhai testified.
Kanhai explained that he was able to ascertain that it was the SOP numbers and not the SOR (Statement of Recount) numbers as his party was still in receipt of their SOPs and SORs and were able to compare the numbers.
“We had the original Statement of Polls that was used for the Elections. Those numbers we kept on an Excel sheet so when we cross matched our numbers to the numbers from that recount the totals did not match,” Kanhai recalled.
Following the pandemonium that broke out after Mingo’s Region Four declarations, and challenges or irregularities arose, on May 4, 2020 GECOM had issued Order 60 of 2020 that authorised a national recount of all ballots cast in the March 2, 2020 GRE.
“During the recount process, I would sit in at the recount stations with fellow members from my party as well as other parties and I would also be present within the tabulation centre when statement of recount would’ve been posted to the tabulation centre for verification
“My team, we had a two-step verification, whereby as soon as a Statement of Recount was finished from the recount station, the person from that station would be issued with an image of the statement of Recount, which we would then add to our system, that was one Excel sheet. We then had a second Excel sheet that would come into the tabulation centre. So we have two steps, whereby one Excel sheet counted before it reached Mr. [Keith] Lowenfield to sign off and another Excel sheet would have been for the assigned statement of recount after.”

Recount process
Kanhai recalled that when the recount process commenced, it involved the removal of the ballot boxes one by one from the container in the presence of election agents from the various political parties. He noted that he observed that all of the ballot boxes were sealed as they came out of the container bearing seals from the Guyana Elections Commission in addition to seals from individual political parties.
“I observed that it had the seals intact: the official seals for GECOM with that serial numbers and also had party stickers. The box was taken by the GECOM representative, followed by the party representative along a corridor and that box was taken to the counting station that it was denoted to be at,” Kanhai recalled.
“When it was at the counting station, the GECOM representative would display the box on the table with the seals. The serial numbers were read and everyone had the opportunity to note those serial numbers down, the party stickers were removed, and the box was open. When the box was opened, there were several envelopes in the box. The envelopes were labelled.”
The recount produced SORs that superseded previous SOPs. Lowenfield was required to produce a report on the recount. He did so on June 13, 2020. However when he submitted his final report on the elections result on July 11, 2020 he continued to use the fraudulent numbers concocted by Mingo and not the recount results.
Kanhai, who was recently appointed as the Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government, recalled observing and being in receipt of back and forth correspondence that ensued between Lowenfield and Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh over Lowenfield’s defiance to using the recount results.
On August 2, 2020 Lowenfield would finally submit a report using the recount numbers, which showed a win of the elections for the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC). Mingo’s previous fraudulent results had attempted to give the election win to the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) party, which was in government at the time.
Earlier in his testimony, Kanhai testified to his attempts on March 5, to deliver a letter of a Request for a Recount to Justice Singh at her office at the Ashmin’s Building, which was being used as the GECOM Command Centre.

Miller’s interview
Meanwhile, Miller’s interview was presented as video evidence during the testimony of a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) videographer stationed at the Crime Laboratory. The video recording shows Miller being questioned by then-Corporal Stephon Hinds and Officer Simon McBean at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on October 17, 2020.
During the 2020 elections Miller served as a clerk for Mingo. During her interrogation Miller was asked by the police about allegations of her participation in fraud during a subsequent tabulation process for Region Four, which saw Mingo making another fradulent declaration on March 13, 2020,
Miller, Mingo and Lowenfield are among nine individuals currently facing 19 charges of conspiracy to commit electoral fraud for the events that occurred following the March 2, 2020 GRE.
Other persons charged include Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former APNU+AFC Minister Volda Lawrence, APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer, Carol Joseph and former GECOM employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, and Denise Babb-Cummings.