…says party fully aware that it lost the elections, continues to lie to nation
In explosive but unsurprising revelations, Region Four Vice Chairman Samuel Sandy, who was one of the several politicians to recently resign from the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), has revealed that the party is fully aware that it lost the 2020 elections, but has continued to lie to the nation.
Region Four Vice Chairman Samuel Sandy
According to Sandy, he not only has evidence that the former Coalition Government lost the 2020 elections, but that he had long since provided this evidence to the party. The A Partnership for National Unity /Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition maintains to this day that it did not lose those elections, despite all evidence, a Commission of Inquiry (COI) and election fraud charges against key election staff, which all say otherwise.
According to Sandy, he had urged PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton to be truthful to the nation about APNU/AFC’s loss at the 2020 election… pleas that have so far gone unheeded
Sandy served as the APNU/AFC’s Campaign Manager-Operations for the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) during the 2020 General and Regional elections.
In an interview on the ‘Starting Point’ podcast, Sandy explained that the evidence he had collected in his capacity as PNC/R’s campaign manager, directly contradicted the results that had been read out by then Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, now one of nine charged for electoral fraud.
“In 2020, the APNU/AFC lost the election. I was the Operations Manager for the East Coast campaign. I was responsible for collecting all SOP’s (Statements of Poll). And I did take it upon myself to record the scores of every SOP received.”
“I took pictures. I kept them. I still have them. I went to the Ashmin’s Building. I listened to the numbers being tabulated. I looked at my numbers and thought to myself, where might this be going?” Sandy recounted.
Former President David Granger
According to Sandy, he had to make a choice between doing the right thing or going along with the charade. He noted that in addition to his youth and inexperience with senior leadership, other factors that forced him to stay quiet at the time was the fact that he lived in Golden Grove, a PNC/R stronghold.
However, he claimed that he wrote to the party leader, Aubrey Norton, urging him to be honest about APNU/AFC’s loss at the last election.
“I think at that point it was more making a decision between supporting hope of our large section of society and that of personal integrity. I chose the former. And I challenge anyone to tell me different, because like I said, I have dated, photo evidence of what I submitted, as opposed to what Mingo declared.”
“I live in Golden Grove, a stronghold of the PNC. How can I go home and say hey, I just informed them of the numbers declared, weren’t the actual numbers I shared with the party. I have always been [scared to speak out]. But I’ve made peace with myself and I can say that now. So, it doesn’t matter where it goes,” Sandy added.
Meanwhile, Sandy was of the view that former President David Granger did not initially know that the elections had been rigged. According to him, if he had knowledge of the plot, he would not have agreed to the recount.
Election case
As it stands, nine individuals are currently before the court in connection with the March 2020 general and regional elections, among them senior former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials.
The accused include Mingo, former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, and his former Deputy Roxanne Myers. Also charged are former PNC/R Chairperson Volda Lawrence, PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph, and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller, and Denise Babb-Cummings.
The election report of former CEO Lowenfield had claimed that the APNU/AFC coalition garnered 171,825 votes, while the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) gained 166,343 votes.
How he arrived at those figures is still unknown, since the certified results from the recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from CARICOM pellucidly showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes, while the coalition garnered 217,920.
The recount exercise also highlighted that Mingo had heavily inflated the figures in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) – Guyana’s largest voting district — in favour of the then-caretaker APNU/AFC regime.
The nine defendants face a total of 33 counts of election-related fraud, centred around alleged attempts to manipulate the voting results. The trial, initially overseen by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, began in July 2024 but was paused due to her extended medical leave. This led to the case being reassigned to Magistrate McGusty. When the matter was called on December 8, 2024, the defence requested a fresh start to the already delayed trial. In contrast, the prosecution contended that restarting the case was unnecessary and that the court should simply recall the previous witnesses.
Ultimately, Magistrate McGusty ordered that the election fraud trial be restarted. In January 2025, Magistrate McGusty ruled that the case would proceed summarily. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
