APNU/AFC torments Guyana with a daily dose of twisted mentality

Dear Editor,
The whole of Guyana continues to be very tense and precariously placed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but if you ask most Guyanese they will certainly express greater worry about the ongoing GECOM National Recount of votes cast at the General and Regional Elections on March 2, 2020, hoping that the final outcome will end with a legitimate President being sworn in. However, it is quite reasonable to conclude that the recount is revealing more and more irrefutable evidence that exposes the magnitude of the fraud committed by the District Four RO, Mr Mingo, with his two malicious declarations. The declaration he made on March 13, 2020, is the genesis of the APNU/AFC early claims of victory but also the subject of the present recount.  The revelations of the present recount process are enormously disputing their winning claims and for that, they have sunken to a new low. That new low has given rise to desperate and dangerous plots springing from the PNC/APNU/AFC operatives. From the positive claims of winning the 2020 elections, they have somersaulted into crying foul. They have degenerated into relentless discrediting of the fairness and the credibility of the conduct of the said elections.  To promote their hogwash, they have set up camp close to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre manned by the likes of Christopher Jones, Sherod Avery Duncan and others spilling out their unsubstantiated claims of bloated voters’ list, electoral fraud and narratives replete with lies and distortions to every media platform with impunity.  They focus their rhetoric in the PPP dominated areas but were all proven to be shots in the dark when they were embarrassingly caught zeroing in on one of their own strongholds. The number of anomalies they pointed out there were much more than the votes cast for the PPP.  With the PPP/C well in the lead and the GECOM SoPs they have uploaded onto the internet, a victory in their favour is inevitable. So, given the public posturing of the APNU/AFC operatives, definitely, it does not give one the comfort that the final declaration of the recount will end peacefully.
To bolster their cravings and to prove wrongdoings at the elections they have come up with a bizarre action plan. That is to use every platform available to relentlessly peddle their claims of anomalies, numbers of dead and migrated persons voting at the elections. That it was a pre-planned collaborative doing by the GECOM staff and the PPP. The objective is to twist public opinion, to cause people to believe that the votes count does not matter, the process was contaminated and that is paramount. They have convinced themselves that once they stick to the script of continuously bombarding the public with the lies and fictitious claims people outside of their base will start believing them. Recent posturing seems to suggest that they have fallen back on one of the PNC seasoned and experienced players to lead that charge.  Aubrey Norton’s recent showings at the media centre outside the ACCC has been doing just that. He has been rigorously imploring the media to carry his conversations and the PNC/APNU/AFC messages of irregularities at the elections. He bluntly dismisses the votes count in the boxes and points an accusing finger at the PPP for elections rigging. He addresses the media, plucking numbers out of thin air of dead and migrated persons that voted without providing a shred of evidence.  To sustain their ridiculousness, Mr Norton and other PNC/APNU/AFC operatives consistently attempt to impose their will on the media, insisting that they must believe their false claims and go tell the world. They must step out of the realm of their professionalism, think outside of the box and be party to their degrading mentality. His most recent statement to the media in which stated that it cannot be considered as anomalies anymore but a clear case of electoral fraud and rigging is definitely a move for ratcheting up their narrative.    The media personnel on a daily basis are subjected to a barrage of bullying tactics; when asked to provide their source of evidence, Mr Norton and other PNC/APNU/AFC operatives would only say that the evidence will be provided at the right time and that it now GECOM to do the investigation.
The entire GECOM apparatus takes a daily battering from the PNC/APNU/AFC presenters while the GECOM Chairman, Retired Judge Claudette Singh seems unperturbed in a deafening silence, allowing them a free reign. The GECOM PRO in her daily updates stays clear of the APNU/AFC statements. This inaction on the part GECOM appears to suggest acceptance and lends a level of encouragement. The GECOM Chairperson was quick to reprimand Commissioner Sase Gunraj for speaking to what she said but is giving a free pass to the Mingo’s fraud and the PNC/APNU/AFC presenters of daily accusations of malpractice committed by the GECOM staffers on polling day. That stance gives rise to the suspicion of the Madam Chairperson displaying favouritism. The APNU/AFC leaders take pleasure in demeaning the efforts of their own field staff and agents in the polling place on E-Day, March 2, 2020. Having gone to that length to destroy their very own, it is chilling to imagine what they can do to others. The groundwork is being laid, the conditions are set forth for the danger that lies ahead.
While the APNU/AFC torments Guyana with a daily dose of twisted mentality, the GECOM demonstrates no intention of bringing a speedy end to this present morass they have brought onto the people. This nation is haemorrhaging badly in all directions and sectors and that needs to stop.  The GECOM National Recount process must be sped up. The Chairman, Retired Claudette Singh, must assert the authority that the Guyana Constitution has vested in her and act now. Much more than two more workstations are needed along with extended daily working hours. Even if it means going back to Commissioner Sase Gunraj’s proposal of twenty workstations, let it be to ensure the process concludes not much beyond the scheduled twenty-five workdays.

Respectfully,
Parasram Persaud