Frmr GECOM commissioner tells court of effort to “steal” elections 

Former Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn testified that he believed an effort was underway to manipulate the outcome of Guyana’s March 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE), as he faced cross-examination during the ongoing election fraud trial on Thursday.

Benn, who was also a Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner at the time, was questioned extensively about events at GECOM’s Command Centre at Ashmin’s Building, which also housed the office of the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer.
The questioning focused on the disputed tabulation of votes, including a bomb scare, the Commission’s procedures and alleged discrepancies between figures displayed during the tabulation and figures contained in Statements of Poll (SoPs).
Asked by defence attorney Nigel Hughes about his decision to remain at GECOM despite Police instruction to evacuate the building during the bomb scare, Benn said he was acting in his capacity as a commissioner. He said he was “plainly and clearly” aware that there was an effort underway to “steal the elections and to alter the results.”
Benn, who is currently a senior advisor to the Home Affairs Ministry and Natural Resources Ministry, was pressed on what authority allowed him to disregard the Police instruction.
He responded that he acted under the authority of being a sitting GECOM Commissioner and said he accepted “full moral and ethical responsibility” for his actions in the circumstances that were unfolding. Asked whether he believed that being a commissioner entitled him to disobey a Police Officer’s instruction, Benn answered, “Yes.”
He was then asked by Hughes to identify the law, statute, regulation, or constitutional provision that gave him such authority.
“The Constitution of Guyana,” Benn replied, adding that he was acting as a member of the Commission.

“Get out of the place”
The questioning then turned to the circumstances surrounding the Police presence at the GECOM building.
Benn said he believed the actions of the Police could have been used to facilitate an effort to rig the elections. However, he clarified that he was not saying the officers themselves knowingly participated in a criminal conspiracy.
He explained that several Police Officers had come to the building and told those present to “get out of the place” and “clear out of the place” but did not formally explain the reason for the evacuation.
Benn said the officers “could have been used in certain ways” to allow an ongoing effort to rig the elections to continue. He said, “They may have been totally unaware of why they were sent and what they were supposed to do.”
When it was suggested that he believed the Police Officers were innocently involved in a plan to rig the election, Benn agreed. The former commissioner was also questioned about the secret watermarks placed on election materials.
Benn recalled that GECOM had decided on the watermarks to be used and said the parties knew which watermarks were to be placed on the election materials.
He explained that during verification, statements of proof were scanned to determine whether the relevant watermarks were present.
“There was no instance of any problem of there being an absence of any watermark,” Benn said.
He also gave evidence about discussions among GECOM Commissioners concerning Order No. 60 of 2020, the legal instrument that provided for the national recount of ballots cast in all ten electoral districts and established the process for determining a “final credible count” of the March 2, 2020 elections. Benn was also questioned about the implementation of rulings issued by then Chief Justice Roxane George, SC.
The witness said there had been meetings and discussions concerning how the relevant requirements were to be followed, although he could not recall whether minutes of those deliberations were subsequently recorded and adopted by the Commission.
The cross-examination also focused on Benn’s observations during disruptions at the tabulation centre.
He recalled an incident in which figures were being displayed on a screen, and party agents protested that the numbers did not correspond with figures contained in their SoPs.
Benn confirmed that he was present during the incident and that he examined figures from a Statement of Poll and compared them with figures displayed on the screen.

Discrepancies already in public record
However, he acknowledged that he did not make a written record of what he observed.
He also did not take photographs or otherwise document the alleged discrepancies.
Asked by Hughes whether anything had prevented him from recording the information, Benn initially said nothing had prevented him from doing so. He later explained that he did not want to become involved in the “ruckus” taking place at the time.
He further confirmed that he never subsequently sat down and documented the discrepancies during the months of counting, recounting and examination of election results.
Benn maintained that the discrepancies were already matters of public record.
When asked directly whether he had ever documented a single discrepancy that he personally observed, Benn answered, “I did not.” He maintained that he did not have to document the information because what had occurred was already publicly known.
The testimony forms part of the prosecution’s case concerning allegations that several former GECOM officials and political figures conspired to manipulate the results of the March 2020 elections. The trial continues on Friday before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Courts.
Those on trial include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy CEO Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, and former APNU/AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith-Joseph.
The other accused are former GECOM employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller and Denise Bobb-Cummings.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty and posted cash bail.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, alleged that the nine accused conspired to manipulate the tabulation of votes in Region Four and ultimately declare a false result in favour of the APNU/AFC.
It further alleged that the accused inflated the coalition’s votes, reduced those of the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and departed from the prescribed process for ascertaining the results.