2020 elections fraud trial: “I objected to the process. I stood up and I objected” – witness tells court

Former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner Robeson Benn on Thursday told the court of how he strongly objected to the manner in which the tabulation of Region Four (Demerara–Mahaica) votes was being conducted during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, when former Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo chose to abandon the use of the Statement of Polls (SOP) and use a spreadsheet instead. Benn also testified to further objecting to the process when it was later decided to have the SOPs projected onto a white “bedsheet”, after the High Court had ordered that Mingo was legally required to continue the tabulation process using the SOPs and not the spreadsheet. “I objected to the process which Mingo was conducting under the shed, on a bed sheet. The bed sheet was not properly affixed so that you could see the number. In any event the numbers being produced were not being agreed to by the PPP/C and others. I stood up and I objected. I said that you cannot do this, it has to be properly done. The High Court made an order. I objected as a Commissioner of GECOM. I was ignored and I left along with other persons at that time,” Benn testified as the trial in the 2020 elections fraud case continued before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. On Thursday, Benn also testified about several pieces of photographic and video evidence that were tendered during his appearance. He explained that as a Commissioner of GCEOM, he was among the commissioners who were responsible for verifying and authenticating the Chief Elections Officer’s (CEO) SOPs, which were to be used in tabulating the results. He recounted the events at Ashmin’s Building in Georgetown after what he described as a breakdown in the tabulation process for Region Four. On Thursday, Benn also told the court that he was present on March 4, 2020 when Mingo fell ill and was taken to the hospital. He said it was after Mingo returned, he instructed that the tabulation would no longer continue using the SOPs but instead would be conducted using figures from a spreadsheet, a move that drew objections from party representatives and observers. He further testified that inaccurate numbers, which did not match those on the SOPs, were being inserted by GECOM staff, including Livan. Benn also recalled being present when Mingo attempted to declare the results on March 5 without the tabulation process being completed. “Mr Mingo declared the results, purportedly. I heard him calling numbers and this and that but you couldn’t hear because of the noise being made. There was a great uproar in the building. People were shouting him down. Party representatives, observers. You couldn’t hear what he was saying above the disorder and disagreement being made over him trying to declare the results which was being done by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo,” Benn said.
He further testified about events on March 13, 2020, following court proceedings which required GECOM to properly tabulate and verify the Region Four results.

Cursing, shouting & threatening
“Mr Lowenfield had established the place under a shed at the back of the main office of GECOM, and so people came there, and party reps, commissioners, observers and others came. Mr Mingo was having a projection of results, which was again being disputed, as it was being displayed on a piece of cloth by projection. The cloth wasn’t properly affixed so that the numbers were being disputed by the opposition party. There were some exchanges. Some of the then opposition persons were objecting to the way it was being done, and they came under attack.”
Robeson Benn recalled that representatives of the then governing A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) became irate with people who were objecting to the situation. “They were cursing and shouting and threatening them, and it got pretty tense. It became an unsafe situation; after a while the opposition parties decided they would abandon. After a time the bedsheet didn’t matter anymore because people were objecting to it. We objected to the circumstances to the way it was being carried out. I objected too. There were international observers there too who objected, and in all of this there was a vigorous exchange between some persons from the opposition side. Verbal exchanges verbal attacks being thrown,” Benn told the court, adding that “one gentleman from ANUG (A New and United Guyana) got into a more than feisty exchange with a lady from APNU+AFC. That lady eventually went and signed the declaration.” The woman Benn identified referred to APNU/AFC Chief Scrutineer, Carol Joseph. Joseph had gotten into an altercation with ANUG’s representative, Jonathan Yearwood. “She threatened him and said things to him, and he said he would defend himself. It got to be that serious,” Benn recalled in his testimony. Benn said that despite his objections and those of others, Joseph proceeded to sign a document purporting to be the results for Region Four. Benn is expected to continue his testimony today. The court will also continue a voir dire into contested evidence. Former RO Mingo is among nine persons jointly charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud in relation to the tabulation of votes for Region Four during Guyana’s March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections. The accused face 19 charges alleging conspiracy to commit electoral fraud stemming from events following the 2020 polls. Other charged include former CEO Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former APNU+AFC Minister Volda Lawrence; APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Joseph; and former GECOM employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller and Denise Bobb-Cummings.