Election CoI: Party agents faced intimidation from APNU/AFC supporters – Shuman

…says GECOM staff were performing yoga during chaos
…feared for GECOM Chairperson’s safety in locked room

Day three of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the 2020 General and Regional Elections saw testimony from Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Leader Lenox Shuman, who recounted the intimidation that he and his Party Agents endured during the proceedings.

Shuman, who is now the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, recalled that on March 5, 2020, he and his LJP Party Agents felt intimidated when they tried to enter the tabulation centre at Ashmin’s Building.
“I arrived at the door of Ashmin’s Building at around 10 minutes to eight. When I got to Ashmin’s Building, instead of using the entrance I had used previously on Hadfield Street, it was barricaded off. When I got to the entrance, the Police Officers present there said ‘Mr Shuman, you cannot enter through here. You are going to have to take the entrance on Brickdam’.
“When we showed up at Brickdam, at that barricaded entrance, there were a lot of APNU/AFC supporters in the streets, taunting and pretty much throwing slurs our way. Tantamount to verbal abuse, entering into the barricaded area,” Shuman said.
Asked whether there were Police around, Shuman said there were. However, according to him, the Police did nothing to protect them.

Shuman also testified about occurrences inside the building. A common thread in his testimony is that there were numerous delays during the count. He recalled seeing Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staff counting ballots and stopping after only a few ballots were counted, repeatedly.
He recounted that at one point, Party Agents were told by then Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield that GECOM staff were tired and could not continue the count. This is despite the urgency of completing the tabulations.
The pregnancy of a GECOM staff was even proffered as an excuse to stop the tabulation. Considering the millions that were allocated to GECOM to carry out the elections, Shuman expressed shock that a proper shift system was not implemented.

Yoga
Interestingly enough, Shuman recounted encountering GECOM staff doing yoga in a room, even as chaos and disputed tabulations were ongoing the following day. Data clerk Enrique Livan, who was embroiled in controversy for leaving the main tabulation room with a laptop during the verification process for Region Four, was also present in the room.
“He was seated at a desk, with the computer slightly open… when I got there, he had stopped typing. When it left the (tabulation) room, there was no USB drive in (the laptop). When we got to the room, there was a USB drive inserted in the computer.
“When we walked into the room, on the right-hand side, there was a yoga mat with one GECOM employee lying down in what I would call a resting position. And there was also a GECOM staff standing at a printer. And the printer was in the process of printing something,” Shuman recounted.
He noted that at the time, people were yelling that the numbers were being changed. The LJP Leader said he brought the printer to everyone’s attention, at which point the GECOM staff who was standing by the printer, went to join her colleague on the ground on the yoga mat.
Shuman proceeded to take the paper from the printer and show it to the Party Agents who were present at the tabulation exercise.
“There were a series of questions being thrown at (Livan). He was being bombarded with questions. But he said absolutely nothing. I think at one point, if I recall correctly, he pulled the (laptop) screen down, put his hand on the desk and put his head down,” Shuman recalled.
Shuman’s testimony also touched on the safety of GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh. At one point the Chairperson was sequestered from everyone else in a locked room. He recalled going after the Chairperson to ascertain whether she was OK, since there was a real fear that she was in harm’s way.
“After the suspicions that she is being held captive… I personally feared some harm may come to the Chair of GECOM…,” Shuman said, recounting that he was accompanied in his search for the Chairperson by then party executive of The New Movement (TNM), Dr Josh Kanhai. Kanhai was arrested that night after he breached the door to get to the Chair.
Meanwhile, CoI Chairman Stanley John put out a statement on Tuesday urging persons who are referenced during CoI testimony, to come forward if they wish to make testimony of their own and defend themselves.