Caretaker President commits to acceptance of recount results

…PPP challenges him to prove sincerity, bring in Carter Center

Caretaker President David Granger has made a public commitment that he will accept the results of the national recount scheduled to begin on Wednesday, but the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has challenged him to prove his sincerity by intervening and removing the obstacles that are preventing the Carter Center observer team from returning to Guyana.

The PPP/C is also calling on Granger to temper the “rigging cabal at Congress Place” and the APNU-nominated GECOM Commissioners and have them desist from trying to derail the recount.
Following the announcement by GECOM and the gazetting of the official order for the recount to begin on Wednesday, Granger in response issued a statement saying that he welcomes the announcement and that the coalition APNU/AFC would be accepting the results. “The entire nation is awaiting the completion of the recount of the ballots and the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission,” the President said in a broadcast message as he urged citizens to exercise patience during the recount. He reiterated “I have said, repeatedly, that I shall accept the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission, which will allow for a democratically elected Government t

o be sworn-in to office.”

Prove sincerity
However, the PPP/C has responded critically to his statement, saying that the caretaker President has “emerged from his slumber and has issued one of his usually sterile and placatory statements.” They have dubbed the statement as another attempt by Ganger to distance himself “from the fraud that his party has attempted to perpetrate in relation to the Region 4 results, through the instrumentality of Mingo; the subsequent violation of the Chief Justice’s Order granted on March 11, by Mingo and encouraged by his party hacks which led to Mingo making a second false declaration.”
According to the statement from the PPP/C, “He speaks of a delay in the declaration of results as if he is unconnected with it when this very delay was caused by his own political party and his Commissioners at GECOM. He attributes this delay to legal challenges in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, without disclosing that these challenges were filed by Ulita Moore and Roysdale Forde, both candidates of his political party, and when they lost in the High Court, they filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal, where they lost again.” Further, the party pointed out that while the President has sought to boast of his compliance with court rulings, “the world knows that he refused to comply with the Judgement of Caribbean Court of Justice in relation to the No-Confidence Motion.”
“He speaks of compliance with the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, although, no other Head of State in the English speaking Caribbean, over the past fifty years, has been found guilty of violating their Constitution, than him, including, his unilateral appointment of James Patterson as Chairman of GECOM and his refusal to comply with the Constitution, in relation to the No-Confidence Motion, just to name two.”

Bring Carter Center
Referencing these occurrences, the PPP stressed that his promise to accept the declaration of the Elections Commission, after the recount, “rings hollow and provides comfort for no one.”
The party once again brought to the forefront, the ongoing issue where the Carter Center observers were denied approval from the COVID-19 Task Force—headed by Chairman, caretaker Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and CEO, Joseph Harmon—to return to Guyana to observe the recount. This, even though the democracy watchdog group is still accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Guyanese are too acquainted with his record and strategy of making grand promises and giving solemn commitments on the one hand, while on the other hand, he instructs his political lackeys to do everything possible, to undermine them. Only recently, we saw his commitment to the US Congressmen, Albio Sires, Gregory Meeks and Yvette Clarke to ensure free and fair elections are held and to accept the results. We also saw his commitment to Caricom, to have a recount done, expeditiously, under the scrutiny of a Caricom team, while instructing his Commissioners at GECOM to object to it and then ordering his candidates to rush to the High Court to prohibit it,” the PPP highlighted.
In order to prove his sincerity, the PPP/C said, “The President must demonstrate his bona fides by releasing APNU/AFC copies of the SoPs for Region Four and urge GECOM to do the same. This will be consistent with the position that he took as Opposition Leader in 2011” and “Instructing the rigging cabal at Congress Place and his Commissioners at GECOM to stop undermining and attempting to derail the recount process.” Pressing the challenge further, the party called upon Granger to intervene “to permit Carter Center and the other accredited international observer teams to return to Guyana to complete their mission of observing the March 2, elections.”