PNC, in desperation mode, touts: “We should keep rigging elections”

Dear Editor,
Hamilton Green is still the embodiment of the LFS Burnham’s People’s National Congress (PNC), even when it seeks a ‘chameleonic merge’ or undergoes epithetical ‘deed-polling.’ This was spelt out, when recently he exclaimed that “We should keep rigging elections.” This cry of desperation was uttered at the LFS Burnham Foundation Annual Commemorative Symposium 2024, a regular event commemorating the birth anniversaries of Linden Forbes Burnham, the former PNC leader and President of Guyana.
Green, as we know, was the General Secretary of the PNC, and Burnham’s major henchman. In bellowing that “We should keep rigging elections,” to remove the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration from office, Green, whether he cares or not, is attesting that all pre-1992 elections were well-rigged, and that is still the organisation’s only modus operandi.
Editor, let me thank you for your treasured space in allowing me to address this issue, that of Green’s urging for a return to ‘rigging elections’.
First, I think that this ‘rigging’ thing is not to be taken lightly. It has kept the ‘Burnhamites’ not only extant for decades until 1992 but allowed their unbridled dictatorship of Guyana. Then when ousted fairly from power, their hierarchy sought to hijack the 2020 elections, but were unsuccessful physically, militarily and legally. Now, it seems that the host of PNC leaders are fearing extinction or at least irrelevance, and hence their obsession with ‘rigging to regain power.’
Imagine the brazenness of Hamilton Green! He boasted that “…It was Burnham’s wisdom which got him into office in 1964 … (and) if they say he rigged elections, I say we should keep rigging to save us from these devils, these bastards, these demons that we have (referring to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration).”
Editor, this is not an ‘if they say’ matter.
As we recall, the November 3, 2022-February 10, 2023 Commission of Inquiry (CoI), after detailed interviews with over 20 witnesses, ruled that “… former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo made what was described as “shockingly brazen attempts… to steal the election” in favour of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.”
This ‘rigging’ matter is before the courts, and I can hardly wait to hear from Vincent Alexander (A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Commissioner at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes. I wonder how they will fare when the trial unfolds. These two were major attendees at Green’s LFS Burnham Foundation Annual Commemorative Symposium 2024.
Then outside of the CoI, the OAS (Organisation of American States), during the ‘rigging furore’ urged the then APNU/AFC Administration to begin the process of transition, which (would have allowed) the legitimately elected PPP/C Government to take its place. In its report, it was pointed out that “… the idea of an (APNU/AFC touted) fresh election is “unacceptable” and underscored the need for the declaration of the March 2 Elections to be made using the recount figures.”
By the way, the recount was supposed to be APNU/AFC’s escape or maybe, in their minds, their vindication route, yet they were non-compliant. Thus, the OAS report stated that “No other figures, neither those prepared before the recount, nor those recently invalidated by the Caribbean Court of Justice, nor any others that may be unilaterally devised by the Chief Elections Officer can have any place in the final determination of results.”
Well, we all know how this dalliance of seeking to steal ended, and now the legitimate PPP/C are where they were voted for, leading the country.
Editor, I do not expect the hard-core Burnhamites to speak out against past or now seeming planned riggings, but I wish that someone would take to the press and delineate, especially to the younger folks, how democracy was absent from Guyana all thorough the decades until 1992.
It is well documented that the PNC, many times, to preserve their illegal hold of Guyana, had resorted to intimidating “brute force and ignorance” which left no doubt in the minds of the international community, including Caricom, that they had rigged all of these elections.
For example, in 1973, when the Army was mobilised “to protect the ballot boxes”, when in fact this hard-won right of the Opposition parties to accompany the boxes to the Counting Office in their Region was not allowed to be exercised. History shows that two PPP activists were shot and killed by the army when they attempted to accompany the ballot boxes to the place of counting. Yet, David Granger wrote in his account of the 1973 army role that the soldiers performed “admirably”. The army not only seized the boxes but transported them all to GDF Headquarters at Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown, where they were “counted”, out of sight of any civilians.
Burnham concocted a new philosophy for the GDF in 1970, stating that “I do not share with the British the concept that the Army is separate and distinct from everything else and loyal to the Government of the day. As Prime Minister, I expect you to be loyal to this Government. If there is any other Government, it is a matter for you to decide about that, but as far as I am concerned I don’t want any abstract loyalty…I have now arranged with the Chief of Staff that, in future, all recruits, apart from their military training, will also have to attend a course of lectures on the philosophy and ideology of the Government and the Co-op Republic”.
And who was the right-hand man?
It was David Granger; he was then the officer who was responsible for indoctrinating the army in the new philosophy and as he wrote. “The sound political education that the officers and soldiers received during 1971 and 1972 enabled them to act with tact, discretion and firmness in 1973 and saved the day.” Granger’s army career is coeval and concurrent with blatant electoral rigging.
So then, Green’s call must be addressed by leading Guyanese academics, politicians and leaders on the whole. Maybe a symposium is in order where the “History of Riggings” is concerned. I am sure there will be an ample supply of presenters, locally and internationally, who will be willing to contribute.

Yours truly,
HB Singh