“Never again”, 2020 election fraud plot could have doomed Guyana – Jagdeo

Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo, has issued a reminder of how close Guyana came to democratic collapse in 2020, warning that had citizens, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), civil society, international observers and the judiciary not stood firm against efforts to rig the elections, the country could have faced a fate similar to Venezuela.

Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary (GS) of the PPP/C, who was at the time addressing a massive gathering of several thousand at the PPP/C’s Elections Rally held Saturday at the Anna Regina Market Square in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), highlighted the decisive roles played in safeguarding the electoral process and ensuring the rightful Government took office.
The VP recalled what he described as Guyana’s near descent into authoritarianism and economic collapse under the A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Administration.
“If we had not prevailed when they tried to steal the elections, if we didn’t defend democracy, Guyana would have been like Venezuela at this point in time. You see what’s happening in Venezuela. The people here are experienced. The many migrants who have come from Venezuela, who have lost their freedom, they lost their economic livelihood. Many who migrated years ago to seek a better life in Venezuela had to flee that country because they lost their freedom. The PNC took away our freedom for 28 years. We became the poorest country in the hemisphere in the 1990s. They destroyed our economy. And then in the five years they were re-elected, they tried to steal it again,” he said.
Nine persons including persons who were in the APNU/AFC Government are before the court in 2020 fraud case on allegations they attempted to rig the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. They include former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, and his former Deputy Roxanne Myers. Also charged are former People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings. Together, these nine defendants are facing 33 counts of election-related fraud charges after their alleged efforts to manipulate voting results.

Never Again
Jagdeo hammered the point “never again should they come to power”. Turning to the PPP/C’s record since reclaiming power, Jagdeo ticked off an extensive list of achievements, from reversing over 200 taxes, restoring joint services bonuses and doubling old-age pensions, to launching the $55,000 school grants that now reach over 200,000 children.
“$11 billion per year in the pockets of their families. We double old age pension. That’s $19-20 billion more per year the pensioners get in their pockets. We start spending back on farm-to-market roads. We reverse the value-added tax on machinery and equipment, on pesticides, on fertiliser, on electricity, on water, on food. All of these things we did, we gave back the joint services their bonus. We started creating jobs once again because under APNU, 35,000 jobs were lost. In the Amerindian communities, they took away 2,000 jobs from the CSOs by firing them. We rehired many people. We started the part-time work so that more people in this region can get work. That is what we have been doing, and we did it with COVID. For the first two years of our Government, we lost to COVID,” he told supporters in Essequibo Caost.
“You have seen all the changes in Guyana that took place in three years of PPP Government because we lost to COVID. Just imagine five years more what could happen in this country. We’ll transform it. We’ll fulfill the ambitions of our people. Everyone will get help. We’ve laid out our plans for the future, and that is why I hope that every one of you will read the flyer that we put out,” VP added.