President Ali has shown he has the will to deliver

Dear Editor,
The 2025 General and Regional Elections are over and done. The results were predictable, though the voters did return some surprises, and, as expected, those who have lost continue to complain that the elections were neither free nor fair; this, in spite of the fact that all four international observers deemed the elections to be, using their language, “credible”.
International observers will always be conservative with the language they use, but there can be no doubt that, by comparison with any previous elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) administered the most efficient, the most professional and the most peaceful elections our country has ever experienced.
It was not a perfect election, but, then, I know of no country recognised as a democracy which has conducted an election free of challenges, nor which has escaped some form of criticism. Not even the United States of America, often called the bastion of democracy, or, for that matter, the United Kingdom, from which we inherit governance by the rule of law, has held an election free of criticism. So much so that US President Donald Trump still insists that he won an election which he clearly lost to Joe Biden.
Our election was most certainly free. Every registered voter was free to cast his or her vote without hindrance, and there was not one single credible, evidential incident reported of a fraudulent vote being cast.
Knowing that they had lost, but refusing to believe it, both APNU and WIN requested recounts of District Four. WIN was refused for requesting a recount of all of District Four by having failed to adhere to the rules. A recount of Region Four Sub District and Region Five did take place and unnecessarily delayed the results of the election being announced by five days.
I personally, as an accredited local observer for the Private Sector Commission (PSC), participated in observing the recount. While I witnessed some ballots being rejected for failures of being properly stamped or the voter not marking the ballot correctly, these were few and far between and had absolutely no impact on the results. The Recount, in fact, established, beyond a doubt, that we had a credible election.
The Carter Center, in their pre-election statement, complained that the ruling party had “benefited from biased state media coverage, undermining the equitable treatment of candidates”. That’s true, but what the Carter Center neglected to observe is that, of the three privately owned newspapers, two – Stabroek and Kaieteur News – were almost wholly biased against the ruling party, particularly in their editorial opinions. Professionally, I am not in favour of state-owned and operated media, as, by their very nature, they will support the Government of the day, except if they are governed by legislation and regulations which require objectivity, for example, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
As for our broadcast media (television and radio), including online broadcasters who are ungoverned and generally irresponsible, and even licensed broadcasters, which, unfortunately, the Broadcasting Authority fails to regulate, it’s a wild west show in Guyana.
What the Carter Center did most importantly observe is that they could find nothing fraudulent with the voters list and that they have “not received evidence of inflation of the voter roll”.
The apparent surprise of these elections is that APNU were soundly defeated in their traditional strongholds, such as District Six and District 10. Apparent, because, it seems obvious to me, at least, that a political party found to have deliberately attempted to rig the last election and whose minions are before the court, charged for their roles in this, who refused to acknowledge responsibility, never mind apologise, should expect anyone to vote for them. All of the other aspirants suffered the same fate and for the same reason except for Amanza Walton-Desir, who moved too late to achieve so much and whom I am happy to see will take a seat in Parliament.
APNU was trounced in its strongholds, not only by the PPP/C but also by newcomers, WIN, resulting in Azurddin Mohamed being elected to become the Leader of the Opposition, once so constitutionally appointed by the President.
Mr Mohamed is expected to enter our Parliament as the Leader of the Opposition, as a person sanctioned by the US Government accused of gross criminal activity and who has been charged in Guyana for further alleged criminal activity. Therein lies a potential threat to the future stability of our country.
The Stabroek News published a list of questions and answers sent to the US Embassy with regard to the sanctioning of Mr Mohamed, asking, “What are the implications for a country’s investment from the United States if an OFAC-sanctioned individual (GLOMAG program) is elected to Government or wins seats in Parliament?” This was the answer from the US Embassy: “Guyana is not subject to OFAC’s broad jurisdiction-based sanctions. As a result, US persons are not generally prohibited from investing in Guyana, provided no sanctioned persons are involved in such transactions”. The emphasis is mine. The Embassy went on to say that “we cannot comment on the possibility of broader impacts to US investment in a country as a result of the election of a sanctioned individual to that country’s Government or Parliament.”
We can draw two conclusions from that exchange. The first is that, if Mr Mohamed becomes directly involved in any investment transaction in Guyana from the US, we have a problem, and, secondly, the US Embassy left the broader question of US investment in our country having a sanctioned individual (Mohamed) elected to our Parliament wide open.
However, US Ambassador Ms Nicole Theriot had previously said, when accosted by a journalist, that Mr Mohamed’s participation in the Government or in the opposition in an official capacity would be “concerning” and “problematic” for the US Government. Up to now the US Government has taken no further action (such as an arrest warrant) for him to be extradited to face specific charges in the US. Nevertheless, the people, however foolishly, have spoken, and Mr Mohamed is, therefore, entitled to be the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. Now, we shall see if there are consequences.
I cannot conclude without referring to those prominent persons in our society who never once publicly confronted the attempt to rig our 2020 elections but have been quick to mount personal political platforms critical of the governing party, especially with regard to its refusal to renegotiate the Government’s contract with Exxon, even though it would have served little or no purpose. Both Chris Ram and Melinda Janki are guilty, and Kaieteur News owner, Glenn Lall, dedicated every day of his newspaper to this foolishness. Foolish because Exxon would simply have refused to enter any such negotiations, though the time for that may yet come.
Janki, with whom I have worked professionally and whom I respect as a lawyer, unfortunately became a politician, seeking to urge voters to return a “hung Parliament”, thoughtlessly to give us a Government which could not govern, advancing much the same thing which Chris Ram insisted upon. Our electorate sensibly chose to ignore them.
Democracy demands scheduled elections so that contesting ideologies, policies and programmes embraced by political parties are regularly put before the public to judge and to choose. Elections, however, and all too often, also can dangerously divide a nation’s people. Then, when the contest is over, an emotionally divided people refuse to overcome their differences to work together as a united nation dedicated to the future development of their country.
In Guyana, I have lived through, from the time of Independence and before, this division, mostly based on race, as the greatest enemy to our progress. This time, the results encourage me to look forward to it being different.
Of all of our political leaders, all with their own good intentions and all individually, genuinely dedicated to their country’s interest, Mohamed Irfaan Ali has shown that he is not only committed to our becoming “One Guyana”, but also that he has the personality, the capacity, the youth and the will to deliver on that promise. It is good that the great majority of our people have so recognised and so voted.

Yours sincerely,
Kit Nascimento