PSC, GCCI laud move to fire Lowenfield, Myers, Mingo

Electoral fraud

…say officers must be accountable

Both the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), two civil society organisations that played an integral role in the five-month fight for democracy in 2020, have lauded the steps being taken to hold high-ranking election officers complicit in electoral fraud accountable.
In a statement on Wednesday, the PSC reminded that it had long called for officers who were complicit to be removed from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). In that vein, the PSC welcomed the recent move from Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners to table three motions calling for the immediate dismissal of three high-ranking election officers who are currently before the courts on electoral fraud charges.
“If it were that the Chairman of GECOM was failing to take action to clean up the Commission on the excuse that elections petitions had been filed on the matter of the elections, this excuse no longer obtains,” the PSC said.
On Wednesday, the PSC said it was particularly pleased to welcome the motion tabled by the GECOM Commissioners for the removal of these employees and looked forward to GECOM acting condignly.
The officers in question are Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, his deputy Roxanne Myers and Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo. According to the PSC, it is important that these officers be held accountable. It is also important for GECOM to clean up its act so that urgent electoral reforms can be pursued.

“In December 2020, the Private Sector Commission issued a Statement recognising that Local Government Elections are due by the end of 2021, noted further that (Lowenfield, Mingo) and a number of other officials assisting these officers are charged before the Court with “misconduct in public office” and expressed its concern that none of these officers have been dismissed from their employment at GECOM, nor have they been suspended from duty,” the body said.
The PSC added that it said then that “it is unthinkable and certainly unacceptable that GECOM should proceed to conduct Local Government Elections while these officers remain employed and involved in the conducting of these elections”.
The PSC then referenced the circumstances that led to the steps being taken against the trio. One of the accredited observers for the elections, the PSC recalled the events from the time the District Four count was started and halted by the machinations of a ‘sick’ Mingo to the time the count resumed from a spreadsheet of unknown origin, rather than the Statements of Poll (SoPs). The only reason this result was not declared was because a court order was issued preventing it.
“The country will recall that Mingo, again directed by Lowenfield, aided and abetted by Roxanne Myers, resumed the count and continued to deliberately defy the order of the court, once again using a spreadsheet and then a bedsheet, failing to complete a credible tabulation and verification of the Statements of Poll.”
The Private Sector Commission Observers were actively engaged and present, and witnessed first-hand this entire conspiracy along with the accredited observers of the Carter Center, the European Union and the Commonwealth and the diplomatic representatives of the USA and Canada,” the PSC reminded.

GCCI
In the GCCI statement, the organisation applauded the steps to remove the officials from GECOM and also reminded of the urgent need for electoral reform to strengthen the country’s democracy.
According to the GCCI, it was through the actions of certain GECOM officials that Guyana was placed in a precarious position on the global stage during last year’s elections. At the same time, the GCCI reminded about the importance of undertaking the electoral reform process.
In its missive, the Chamber urged the leaders to continue with the reform process with the utmost urgency, and it anticipated the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in the process.

“It is imperative that these reforms are undertaken to ensure that the inalienable rights of every citizen of Guyana are protected, and that our democracy – a pre-condition to a growing economy – is fortified in its safeguarding,” the GCCI said.
Following the gruelling five-month long ordeal that followed last year’s March 2 General and Regional Elections, the Government has promised electoral reform. This will involve the International Republican Institute (IRI).
The IRI has been working on a project to strengthen the capacity of GECOM and the Attorney General’s Chambers, laying the groundwork for electoral reform. The 18-month project is being supported by the United States Department of State, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The motions seeking the dismissal of the three GECOM officials were tabled by Commissioners Sase Gunraj, Bibi Shadick and Manoj Narayan – all lawyers – before GECOM Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh when they met on Tuesday.
Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo are all before the courts on a number of electoral charges for their attempts to sway the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then ruling A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
The motion to dismiss Lowenfield from his substantive post as CEO was tabled by Gunraj and Shadick, and listed 20 grounds on which he should be dismissed. In the case of Myers, the motion was submitted in the names of Shadick and Narayan. (G3)