…in Guyanese history
It has been well said, “Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me.” But what about if you allow yourself to be fooled a dozen times?? What does it say about you?? And this is the question the Guyanese people must answer as they witness the tragedy – orchestrated by the PNC – unfolding in front of them and the international community. The PNC rigged elections in 1968, 1973, 1978 (referendum), 1980; and 1968 to hold on to power. And their supporters – by and large – went along with their “explanation”.
Will they go along again?? After all, “dis time na laang time” when the GDF moved at the onset of the night to seize the ballot boxes in one fell swoop as the PNC ordered in 1973. This is the age of social media where almost every move the PNC makes to do the dirty is now recorded and streamed into their supporters’ (and the world’s!) screens. They can’t plead ignorance.
That the PNC’s been pulling the strings behind the curtain of the law that makes GECOM “autonomous” would’ve been clear to even Ray Charles, if he were still around! The “tired” pregnant ladies who couldn’t read another line on Wednesday afternoon? There they were in living colour the following day, with the fella who slipped out with a flash drive filled with GECOM data. Later you see him being grilled by the Police – and contradicted by Observers – when he tried to deny he’d transmitted the data so that it could be manipulated and resent to him!!
Then, of course, there was Harmon, Chairman of APNU, blurting out that he’d received calls from the “Guyana Elections Commission and an employee from the Reg 4 GECOM counting office” that PPP officials were barging in and threatening employees. Now even if such actions actually occurred, why should employees from (putatively) the most autonomous entity in Guyana (for obvious reasons!!) be calling a PNC party official??
The videos kept streaming. Karen Cummings going over to the Counting Office, pulling all the foreign observers into a room and telling them she was ordered to yank their accreditation if they were “involved” in the elections. Well, duh!! Weren’t they invited into the country to be “involved” in ascertaining whether the elections were free and fair?? Then, of course, came the denouement: with Volda Lawrence – chairwoman of the PNC – screaming from an escalator in the Counting Center at the Media and PPP officials, and then walking out.
Not long after, we see the RO, who’d miraculously recovered, declaring the results without a tabulation!!
What say the PNC supporters now?? Have you any shame left??
…for all who stay quiet
But the onus for speaking out doesn’t only rest with the PNC constituency – even though they have a greater moral responsibility to do so – having given their support to that party through the years. All Guyanese have to stand up and be counted right now. Over the past year, we saw the PNC try one gambit after another to give themselves an advantage in the long-delayed elections. Even the Observers criticised their use of government resources to campaign.
But when, with all of that advantage, they couldn’t accept a transparent count of the votes that express the will of the Guyanese people, we know the days of the Burnhamite dictatorship are nigh upon us. Though now cliched, Martin Carter’s cry: “we’re all involved; we’re all consumed”, is most pertinent. All Guyanese must now draw a line in the sand: the votes be transparently counted. This isn’t a matter for the courts: there’s no need for a ‘gloss’ on the law broken.
The RO’s illegal declaration cannot stand!!
…and farce
Khemraj Ramjattan exposed himself to more derision when he claimed that he’d expelled three “Russians” with “cyber hacking equipment”. He insisted the Russians can now cyber-hack our elections – which only use pencil and paper!!
The Russians can now read minds??
