2020 elections fraud trial: “I am in charge, I will do it my way” – witness recalls Clairmont Mingo’s hostile behaviour

One of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) elections agents, Sasenarine Singh on Monday recalled how Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo grew hostile and declared “I am in charge, I will do it my way” before instructing party representatives and observers that Region Four (Mahaica-Berbice) election results would be from a spreadsheet instead of the Statements of Poll (SOPs), from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Singh gave this testimony as the election fraud trial continued before Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after a two-month pause. Singh recounted how tabulation of the Region Four results was done without incident up until the completion of some 421 of the 879 SOPs, but it was at this point that the situation started to take a turn for the worse.
According to Singh tabulation stopped at that point but when it resumed the situation suddenly became hostile. Singh recounted that it was expected that the tabulation would resume with the SOPs, and though this was initially agreed to, Mingo later returned to inform observers and election agents that it was his way or the highway.
“I observed Mr. Mingo, and when we came back into the room, I observed a different person. Mr. Mingo started to bang his hands on his desk extremely loud and said “I am in charge, I will do it my way and I am instructing my staff to start calling the numbers,” Singh noted.

Spreadsheet with numbers
“He spoke very clearly, very authoritative, and the staff started reading the numbers. The process he explained we would do we did not do. The staff started reading from a piece of paper and they started plugging in numbers. It was like a spreadsheet with lots of numbers. It was definitely not an SOP. An SOP is a big piece of paper with many columns… This spreadsheet was a piece of paper printed from a computer. The paper that the GECOM Staff was calling from was a piece of paper with lots of numbers on it, nothing but numbers. The SOP has a narrative about location. The paper they were calling from was just numbers, numbers, numbers.”
Mingo is among nine persons jointly charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud in relation to the tabulation of votes for Region Four following the March 2, 2020 General Elections.
Aside from Mingo, others charged include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Joseph, and former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings.
Among the offences these defendants are accused of committing are: misconduct while holding public office; presenting falsified documentation; and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total. These charges stem from attempts to rig the 2020 Elections in favour of the then-ruling APNU/AFC.

“Total chaos”
Singh had begun giving testimony in the case last November before the case was adjourned. Resuming his evidence, Singh described what he termed “total chaos” at the Ashmins Building from March 4, 2020 as efforts were made to complete the tabulation of 879 SOPs for Region Four.
He testified that after 421 SOPs were “completed, tabulated and ascertained,” the process shifted.
According to Singh, Mingo indicated that, in the interest of time, he would have staff extract figures from documents in their possession and present the results in spreadsheet format. However, the proposal was met with loud objections.
“It was total chaos. I observed total chaos and shouts of ‘no, no, no, no’ — calls for ‘SOPs, SOPs,’” Singh told the court. “The place was very loud, extremely loud. The word was ‘no.’ That was the dominant word.”
He said representatives from several political parties and observer groups were present, including members of the PPP/C, The New Movement (TNM), A New and United Guyana (ANUG), The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) and Change Guyana, as well as several diplomants and international observers.
Singh said that when the tabulation exercise resumed in a reorganised setting at Ashmins, access to the building had changed and police were heavily present.
“The whole map of this place had changed. Access to the front door wasn’t there anymore… Total isolation,” he said, adding that “lots of policemen in brown clothes” were on site.

Numbers did not reflect SoPs figures
Singh recalled Nigel Hinds stood and questioned the disappearance of the balances beyond the initial 421 SOPs. According to Singh, Mingo reacted forcefully.
Singh told the court that as the numbers were called and populated on a screen, he began comparing them with the carbon copies of SOPs in his possession.
“The numbers did not reflect what was on the carbon copy of the Statements of Poll that was in our possession,” he said.
He cited one example of vividly remembering an SOP from ballot box 4076.
“The number was 80 for APNU, but when I looked at the carbon copy SOP that we got from the Presiding Officer it showed APNU/AFC 50, so it went up 30 votes,” Singh testified.
“What I also observed was that the number called out indicated a reduction of the PPP number by 30. The difference between the SOP given to me and the spreadsheet inflated the APNU by 30 and reduced that number allocated to the PPP by 30.”
He was clear that the trend began after the first 421 SOPs had been tabulated. “It was from 422 onwards that is where the trend started to develop,” Singh stated.
As the discrepancies continued, Singh said he drew the attention of members of the diplomatic community who were present.
“I started to show the US ambassador and the British ambassador the carbon copies of SOPs in my possession to show them the variation to what was showing up on the screen,” he told the court.

“A Stabroek Market brawl”
He also noted that the figures continued to be read rapidly, noting that “on average they were calling five SOPs in a minute; it was rapid, rapid, rapid,” Singh noted.
Earlier in his testimony, Singh said he was informed via telephone that a declaration had been made upstairs, although he remained in the tabulation room. “I was told that a declaration was made upstairs but I didn’t hear it. I was in the tabulation room at all times. I read it via the media,” he said.
He also described heated exchanges outside the building, likening the atmosphere to “a Stabroek Market brawl,” with “oral matches” between political figures.
During Singh’s testimony attorney for the defendants Nigel Hughes objected to Singh’s citing the SOPs and numbers he saw calling for the laying over of the carbon copy SOPs from the PPPC, which is expected to be done during the testimony of the PPPC Elections party agent, Zulfikar Mustapha, which is still to come.
Meanwhile the trial continues today with a voire dire during the morning session and testimony from a witness, Alisha Mohammed during the afternoon session.