Over the past week, calls have been intensified for caretaker President David Granger to grant permission for the Carter Center to return to Guyana to continue its observation mission. After all, the Carter Center is an accredited observer, and the election process is yet to be concluded.
However, in a desperate attempt to keep the transparency watchdog group out of the recount process, caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Karen Cummings wrote, on the President’s behalf, to the US Ambassador in Guyana, saying that Guyana’s decision to close its airspace to commercial traffic is owing to COVID-19, and that is the reason why the Government could not allow the Carter Center to return; and, as such, that decision should be respected.
Is Cummings serious? Or has she simply not been following other decisions the very Government she works for made? Refusal under the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is yet another desperate move, since her Government allowed several international flights into the country.
Among the reasons for those flights were to transport rotating ExxonMobil workers, and also to bring the Caricom Observer Team for the elections’ recount.
Such a decision does not come as a surprise; as, since the March 2 polls, there have been tremendous attempts by the current caretaker administration to keep at bay any organisation/person who stands for transparency, credibility and democracy.
The most recent attack on the reputation of former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding is a prime example of how the APNU/AFC treats persons who stand up against electoral fraud. The former Jamaica PM, in his report to the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States (OAS) on Guyana’s General and Regional Elections, candidly said: “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election.”
The former Prime Minister was on the ground here in Guyana during the polls, and had a first-hand look at the voting and tabulation process. But can attacking Golding based on the fact that he once visited the home of former President Bharrat Jagdeo really solve the issue? The issue of that visit was well ventilated, since Golding himself made that revelation to the OAS when he was asked to lead the team of observers for the March 2, 2020 poll.
This declaration was made, and the very Ministry of the Presidency for which his attacker, Joseph Harmon, was the director-general, had no objection. Therefore, no objection was made then, but now a shameful personal attack has since been launched on the statesman because he stood up for democracy.
Certainly, this is unjustified. Like Golding’s observations, there is no secret that fraud was perpetrated during the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) tabulation process. All of the observer missions – local, regional and international – that were on the ground on March 2, reported that the voting process was organised and fair, but irregularities occurred, not at the polling stations, but rather at the tabulation of Region Four votes.
This was also related to the OAS on Wednesday by Chair of the Caricom Ambassadors to the OAS, Noel Lynch, when he said, “Irregularities occurred, not in the system by which the Guyanese electorate cast their votes on March 2nd, but in the presentation of the count afterwards.” Indeed, Guyana must be thankful to the observer missions that were in Guyana on elections day, because indeed, had it not been for them, as Ambassador Lynch said, a result might have been declared that would not have commanded the acceptance of the Guyanese people, or the respect and approval of the international community.
Therefore, attacking and blocking out those who stand up for democracy in our nation does not change the fact that the will of the Guyanese people must be respected. That can only come from a credible and transparent tabulation of votes cast on March 2.
