Open letter to Guyana’s Commissioner of Police

Dear Leslie James,
The International Center for Democracy (ICD) along with other international and local observer groups, ABCE countries, Caricom and other international agencies have been monitoring the sequence of events in Guyana prior to and after the March 2, 2020 General Elections. Representatives from observer groups and other countries have been on the ground physically as observers for the elections and have also attended many of the court hearings leading up after the elections.
The ICD and other international countries and organisations are pleased with the recent court rulings for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to commence a recount of the ballots which we are hoping will be very soon. However, like the ICD, ABCE countries, international and local observer groups, Caricom and the world at large are very concern about the blatant and deliberate manipulation by a few GECOM staff namely Keith Lowenfield, Clairmont Mingo and Roxanne Myers to fraudulently tamper with the Statements of Poll (SoPs) for Region Four in favour of the APNU/AFC and making a fraudulent declaration. The Honorable Retired Judge and Chairwoman for GECOM, Claudette Singh’s failure to intervene and address the corrupt GECOM staff and to address the fraudulent practices have been duly noted.
Commissioner James, you hold the highest position within the Guyana Police Force. As the Commissioner, it is expected that you ensure that the rule of law is adhered to by every single person in the country regardless of race, religious belief and/or political affiliation, in essence, no one is above the law, including yourself. As the Commissioner, if anyone violates the law, you and the police officers are expected to be impartial and act without bias or malice and execute the powers that were bestowed upon you and the officers to restore law and order and, if necessary, arrest violators.
In the past several weeks, your office and members of the Guyana Police Force have failed in more ways than one to enforce the law, arrest violators and more grossly, have been impartial and biased. Very simple, this is unacceptable and because of this failure, you and your office have placed the country and the people of Guyana at a very high security risk. The mere fact that as the Commissioner you never intervened and addressed the fraud committed by the GECOM staff is a dereliction of your duties and responsibilities.
More specifically, the Chief Justice (ag) of Guyana, Roxane George, in her recent ruling, held Mr Clairmont Mingo in contempt of court. On national media, the entire nation witnessed that Mr Mingo, the Returning Officer for Region Four, committed election fraud by tampering and manipulating the Region Four SoPs and making a fraudulent declaration in favour of the APNU/ AFC. Mr Mingo committed elections fraud, which is a crime. Why was Mr Mingo not arrested for being in contempt of court and for elections fraud? Commissioner James, you and Madam Chairwoman for GECOM, Claudette Singh’s failure to act has contributed immensely in allowing the current caretaker regime to remain in Government illegally, deprived the constitutional voting rights of Guyanese to have a democratically elected President and Government and from a human rights perspective, has caused undue hardship and suffering of the people in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
The ICD demands that Commissioner James and the Guyana Police Force perform their duties and responsibilities as enforcers of the law without any bias, malice, favouritism, prejudices and/or influence from any political parties. The ICD demands that Mr Lowenfield and Ms Myers be arrested and charged for election fraud. The ICD demands that since Mr Mingo was held in contempt of court that the police immediately arrest and charge him for election fraud and for jeopardising the security of the nation. The ICD demands that Guyanese rights be respected by the Guyana Police Force and not to take directives from any political parties to abuse and use of unnecessary force to silence the people. The ICD, ABCE countries, international and local observer groups, Caricom and the world at large will continue to monitor the Guyana Police Force and Commissioner James to ensure that they perform their duties and responsibilities in a legal and transparent manner. Any further abuse of power or failure to respect the rights of the people of Guyana and failure to arrest those individuals that committed election fraud will be brought to the attention of higher authorities outside of Guyana.

Sincerely,
International Center
for Democracy (ICD)