“Nigel Hughes doesn’t know what went wrong?” – Nandlall on ‘no apology’ comment

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall has said there are lots of things related to the 2020 General and Regional Elections for which the Alliance For Change (AFC) should apologise.
At that party’s press conference last week, AFC Leader Nigel Hughes was asked whether he would apologise for the events of the five-month-long elections, which were marred by attempts to undermine democracy. In response, Hughes said there is nothing to apologize for.
“I’m not sure what we would apologise for…If you’re talking about our role in elections, I would ask you to identify to me specifically what it is that you are saying the AFC did in the elections for which you are seeking an apology,” Hughes said.
However, during his weekend programme of ‘Issues in the News’, Nandlall noted that, with that kind of approach, “they (AFC) will never ever come close to the doors of government”.
During the 2020 elections, the AFC was a member of the then coalition Government which faced massive accusations of undermining the electoral process. For five months following the March 2 elections, the APNU/AFC Coalition had employed various delaying tactics, including filing multiple court cases, to stall the official declaration of results, which were ultimately confirmed through a Caricom-led national recount.
In their report, Elections observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) noted that they had “never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election”.
Nandlall reminded of the statements made by the international community, and noted that “the international community is looking, the voter is looking, the ambassadorial community is looking…and Nigel Hughes doesn’t know what went wrong and what he did wrong?”
He also lambasted Hughes for distancing himself from questions about the Statements of Poll (SOPs), which would purportedly show that the APNU/AFC coalition had won the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
When asked at the AFC press conference, Hughes said, “At the last election, I was not in the business of examining SOPs.” However, Nandlall has contended, “Your party is claiming that they won the elections, you wouldn’t one day ask to look at the SOPs?”
The Attorney General has also rejected claims from the Opposition that the charges of electoral fraud brought against several individuals are “trumped up”.
“You know what happened, and you saw what happened…you don’t have to listen to me or the PPP, you just have to look back at the clips. That’s the beauty of technology…they’re right on your Facebook,” Nandlall has said.
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 cases come up again on November 29, 2024 before Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty.