Appropriate, necessary to deal condignly with all involved in electoral fraud

Dear Editor,
Several senior staff members of the Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are presently facing serious criminal charges for electoral fraud. Officers of Guyana Police Force have arrested Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, his Assistant Duarte Hetsberger, Region 4 Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, among others. The actions come as a part of the necessary serious investigations into their roles in the wicked coup and blatant public attempts to rig the results of the March 02, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
At this point, the Police have made some arrests, and a few of the GECOM officers are already charged and placed before the courts, based on alleged breaches revealed by the ongoing investigations. Clearly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is hoped that these investigations will result in drag-netting all those involved in the ‘coup d’état’ of the will of the Guyanese people. What is also pellucid is that forces external to GECOM corroborated with the daylight banditry which took place, and had to be first arrested by opposing parties contesting the elections, supported by the local observers and the international community.
Many have argued that the Guyana Police Force should have acted before in addressing the glaring public defiance of these officers who have callously and openly defied the Orders of the Commission as well as that of the courts. Of course, criminal charges in relation to Clairmont Mingo were laid before the High Court, and withdrawn much to the angst of most Guyanese. It is now vital for the actions to be swift and deterring to all similar contemplated approaches in the future.
One could also now see the wisdom of the actions of Mr. Nandlall, who may not have had all the required evidence informing his withdrawal of the case against Clairmont Mingo, particularly given the recent revelations of defense of the illegality from the likes of Vincent Alexander and leaders of APNU/AFC. It is note that the people of Belladrum are being rile-up to suppress the truth, and this more than ever demands a thoroughness of actions to reveal the wider network and truth.
It is known that the Guyana Police Force received formal Reports, alleging ‘criminal conduct’ by Lowenfield and Mingo and others in relation to the Elections and the events that followed the Regional and National Elections. Lowenfield was slapped with private criminal charges for fraud, misconduct in office, and breach of public trust, after private citizens filed the charges.
There is also much justification for the interventions from the Director of Prosecutions, Ms. Shalimar Ali-Hack, who has indicated that in the exercise of powers vested in her under Article 187 of the Constitution, she would take over the private criminal charges currently pending against Lowenfield in the Magistrates Courts.
The widely publicized putrid actions of Clairmont Mingo, like Keith Lowenfield’s, inform of the planned blatant attempts to rig by using changes of the true result of the Statements of Poll Tabulation in Region 4. This was done in favour of the APNU/AFC for the National and Regional Elections. Video and other forms of evidence confirm that the verification process in this Region was going smoothly until Mingo introduced false spreadsheets and used his staff to call out unverified results in a blatant attempt to rig the Elections for the APNU/AFC.
Further, the rigging declaration made by Mingo was subsequently set aside by Chief Justice Roxane George following several attempts to force unverified and unqualified counterfeit down the throat of the representatives of contesting parties and the attending observers.
Of note, the only political party representative affixing a signature to the concocted false spreadsheet declarations appeared to be the signature of PNC’s Volda Lawrence. However, all the political parties, along with the Observation Missions, vehemently and correctly opposed and rejected the false declaration, justifying that the fictitious results lacked credibility and transparency. Mingo’s wicked attempt, along with others, to rig the Elections led to the Caribbean Leaders’ intervention and ultimately the Recount.
Although the recount exercise proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the PPPC list led by now President Irfaan Ali had overwhelming won these elections, CEO Keith Lowenfield then sought unilaterally to invoke his own brand of subterfuge in attempting to twist the results in favour of APNU/AFC. In so doing, he flagrantly twisted and defied not only rational evidential facts, but openly defied the rulings of the local Judiciary and the Caribbean Court of Justice, although he had to be aware of the final position of the Statements of Poll. Meanwhile, supporters of the APNU/AFC worked relentlessly to propagandise the nation that the current laws supported the illegality.
Shame on this cabal! Although due process will and must be followed, what boggles the mind is why are these clearly corrupt Officers still on the job at this time? It resulted in Guyanese being forced to go through five months of waiting for Elections results in a time of another threatening global health pandemic, with none of our international partners willing to help, given the high fraudulence and breakdown of democracy.
The situation justifies urgent actions towards radical reforms to rid all possibilities of rigged elections in the future.
As such, it is appropriate and necessary to deal condignly with all involved once and for all. They have breached our Constitution, appendaged laws, and shattered the confidence of our people and partners. This repeats our call for GECOM to be audited in the most thorough way. It is hoped that at the end of it all, the nation will have an Elections Commission with officers and a system of which we could be proud.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar