Guyana has to abide by rules governing democratic States – former diplomat

ꟷ can’t forget obligations to int’l democratic norms
ꟷ withdrawal of observers sent a message

While Guyana is a sovereign nation, it cannot forget its international obligations to democratic norms and principles. This is the view of former Foreign Affairs Minister and diplomat, Rudy Insanally.

In an interview with this publication, Insanally was asked about the withdrawal of several observer missions from Guyana and the fact that the international community has largely condemned the counting of the electoral votes as lacking transparency.
Officials from the Caribbean Community (Caricom), as well as European Union and Carter Center observation missions, had a front-row seat to the several controversies that erupted over the Region Four votes. They have all since left the country.
“Our behaviour, if you can call it that, was likely to attract these steps taken by some of our friends on the international scene, to express their displeasure with the conduct as they see it,” Insanally remarked. “So, there are various forms of expressing that dissatisfaction, with the political powers in countries.”
“And those steps I think were intended to send the message to Guyana and its politicians. There may be other factors, but it would seem in the circumstances that we can conclude they had had enough of their participation and therefore withdrawing their contribution.”

Insanally, who served as Foreign Affairs Minister from 2001 to 2008, acknowledged that Guyana is an independent nation that must make its choices going forward, on behalf of its people. But he emphasised that these choices must be made bearing in mind that Guyana does not operate in isolation.
“Certainly, we are an independent nation, we have a right to conduct our policies as we see fit, for the benefit of our people. At the same time, we cannot forget that we do not live in some small village but in the wider international community.”
“What you have today, operating in that community, is a certain set of rules and laws which are intended to govern the actions of democratic states. So, I would think that we ought to examine our political stance and see where it is necessary to remedy some of these lapses and decide on our own basis whether what we are doing deserves that kind of treatment.”
Insanally noted that there are international codes of behaviour, including an international criminal code and an International Court of Justice (ICJ) that enforces such codes. And he noted that while Guyana may have lost the support of those who support democracy, the ball is in the country’s court to decide how it goes from here.
Since the elections were held nearly three weeks ago, a winner is yet to be announced. The majority of observers who scrutinised the tabulation process have pronounced it to have not been credible and a current court case prohibits the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from conducting a recount.
GECOM itself had come in for much of the criticism, with repeated attempts being made by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, to subvert the process going unchecked by the Commission. Only the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) nominated Commissioners have voiced their disapproval.
The international community has warned Guyana that it could be isolated and even sanctioned if a President is sworn in on the flawed results, resulting in an uneasy standoff between the international community and the Government.
After days of procrastination and the derailment of the Region Four verification of results, an agreement was brokered with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to supervise a recount on Monday last of the votes from all the regions.
In fact, it was President David Granger who had sought Caricom’s help. The Arthur Chung Conference Centre was chosen as the venue for the recount. The various party agents waited all day, but no recount occurred as GECOM first announced that an agreement would have to be signed, then that it was awaiting legal advice.
As the party agents stood guard over the ballot boxes, GECOM officials, then a fumigation crew from the Public Health Ministry and then Police dressed in riot gear arrived and began herding party agents out of the compound.
The Caricom officials, having witnessed all of this and then being stymied by the injunction, left the country. The European Union and Carter Center observation missions soon followed suit.