Caricom team to arrive on Thursday

Guyana elections recount

…no recount start date, no GECOM meeting on Monday

Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Irwin LaRocque on Monday informed the Chairman of the National COVID-19 Task Force of its impending arrival in the country.

The Caricom delegation was invited by the Commission’s Chair, Retired Justice Singh, to take part in observing the recount of the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
The invitation was communicated to LaRocque, however, his response was communicated with the Task Force instead. Late Monday evening, the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) announced that the approval was given and the team will arrive on Thursday.
LaRocque indicated to the COVID-19 Task Force that arrangements would be made for the members of the team to be tested in their respective country, using the World Health Organisation’s approved PCR COVID-19 test.
Additionally, the Task Force was informed that Caricom is requesting approval for the departure and landing of a chartered flight from Guyana to collect the team members, as well as similar arrangements for their return upon completion of the exercise.

As Caricom gears up for the recount, there seems to be no progress locally. There was no meeting on Monday by the Guyana Elections Commission. A decision on the recount date is still pending.
When the team comes, it will be their second time attempting to lend their expertise to resolve Guyana’s electoral crisis. After two declarations from Region Four’s Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, which lacked transparency, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and President David Granger had agreed back in March to have Caricom oversee the recount in a deal brokered by Caricom Chair, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
The first high-level team that came was made up of its Chair, former Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica, Francine Baron; former Minister of Finance of Grenada, Anthony Boatswain; Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government of UWI, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Chief Electoral Officer of Barbados, Angela Taylor; and Chief Elections Officer of Trinidad and Tobago Fern Narcis-Scope.
But before the recount even got started, delay tactics by GECOM allowed APNU/AFC candidate Ulita Moore to go to the courts seeking an injunction against the recount. The granting of this injunction forced the previous Caricom team of observers to leave. Following their departure, Mia Mottley had lamented that there were “forces” in Guyana who do not want the recount to happen.
The decision by Caricom to again field a delegation to Guyana as part of the country’s electoral process comes on the heels of an earlier decision by National COVID-19 Task Force Chairman and caretaker Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, to subject Caricom and any foreign observer to a mandatory 14-day quarantine on their arrival in Guyana.
That decision had led to widespread public outcry and a subsequent intervention by caretaker President David Granger to instead have the officials tested for COVID-19 in their home countries before leaving for Guyana.
It is now close to two months since the close of the March 2 polls and a decision is yet to be taken. GECOM has committed to a recount and has finalised a work plan but has said it would need an arrival date from Caricom in order to formally Gazette the order for the elections recount.