Election fraud trial: “We simply can’t continue in this manner” – AG

…calls for “firm direction” on way forward

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall is calling for a “firm direction” on the way forward in the election fraud trial, as the date for the continuation of the matter approaches.
Nine people, including former Government Ministers and Opposition members, along with former employees of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), are before the court for electoral fraud. The charges emanated from the 2020 General and Regional Elections, which lasted for five months due to efforts to derail the results of the elections.

The trial commenced before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly on July 29, and was set to run from then to September 13. However, the magistrate proceeded on a prolonged period of sick leave, resulting in the case being pushed to October 31.
However, on this date, the public holiday Deepavali is set to be observed, necessitating that the court again reschedule the sitting, which may be the following day – November 1, 2024.
AG Nandlall has declared there should be no more excuses at that hearing, but there should be a definitive way forward.
“We simply can’t continue in this manner…it is hoped that the prosecutors and the defence will be informed definitively on the direction that the cases will go. If it is that the magistrate is unable to do the cases for health or other reasons, we ought not to hear that on the (next court date) without hearing more.
“We need to hear if that is the position, and a firm direction (should be) settled in terms of how the cases will proceed, with time being of the essence, so the early determination of the cases can be anticipated,” the AG has stated.
According to Nandlall, the judiciary needs to be held accountable over its handling of this matter. “The public deserves no less. The judiciary is a public institution that must be held accountable for the conduct of its business,” he noted.
The following persons are facing charges: former Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers; former People’s National Congress/ Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings.
Among the offences these defendants are accused of committing are: misconduct while holding public office; presenting falsified documentation; and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total.
These charges stem from attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the APNU/AFC, which had then been ruling the country.
The election report of former CEO Lowenfield claimed the APNU/ AFC coalition had garnered 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C had gained 166,343 votes. How he arrived at those figures is still unknown, since the certified results from the recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) pellucidly showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes, while the coalition garnered 217,920.
Following the recount, Irfaan Ali of the PPP/C was declared President of Guyana on August 2, 2020 – some five months after the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The delay in the election fraud case has been a cause for concern, including for the Government.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently said there is widespread public frustration over the delays in the trial, and he made it clear that the judiciary must address those delays. He had pointed out that with all the evidence there to prosecute the cases, it is up to the judiciary to accelerate the proceedings.