Dear Editor,
Vincent Alexander must be fading in memory and intellect, or maybe he is just the very epitome of what he is accusing others of being. The man is claiming that the (supposed) “Planned dismissal of Lowenfield, Myers, (and) Mingo (is)racially motivated.”
First, I want Mr Alexander to study the statement by the Chair of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, on the electoral crisis following Guyana’s General and Regional Elections, held on 2 March 2020. This statement was made public on June 30, 2020
The great lady was saddened as (up to that time) more than 100 days had passed “and yet there was no declared result. She explained that “from the very beginning, we have been clear and said consistently that every vote must count, and every vote must be made to count in a fair and transparent way.” The big ‘but’ was that she noted there was “… a level of gamesmanship that has left much to be desired, and has definitely not portrayed our Caribbean region in the best light. This is definitely NOT our finest hour, and we MUST NOT shy away from that reality.”
This I want Alexander to ponder over: “The Caribbean Community (Caricom) is concerned at reports that the Chief Elections Officer has submitted a Report to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) which is contrary to the directions given by the Commission, and which does not reflect the results of the recount process as certified by the very staff of the Guyana Elections Commission and witnessed by representatives of the political parties.”
Let us remember that the numbers and their certification were also witnessed by the said Caricom Observer team, and it was the team’s “…unshakeable belief that the people of Guyana expressed their will at the ballot box on March 2, and that the results of the recount certified as valid by the staff of GECOM led to an orderly conclusion on which the declaration of the results of the Election would be made.”
That is why the question is still valid: “On what grounds and by what form of executive fiat does the Chief Elections Officer determine that he should invalidate 1 vote, far less over 115,000 votes, when the votes were already certified as valid by officers of the Guyana Elections Commission in the presence of the political parties? Should this kind of clear-cut malfeasance go unpunished? And when the condign treatment is judicially meted out, is that racism?
The lady reiterated in a most unambiguous manner that “any attempt to provide numbers different from those certified by the staff of GECOM has left many in shock, and wondering what next will happen to frustrate the will of the Guyanese people.
Second case in point goes back to August 2020, when the then former Deputy Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud won damages to the tune of $4 million in a defamation lawsuit against the Guyana Chronicle, its former Editor-in-Chief Nigel Williams, and Opposition-nominated Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander, according to a judgment handed down by Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
The gist of that matter was that the former Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vishnu Persaud, was rejected from being rehired on the grounds of his past performance, his alleged history of faking his qualifications to the commission…’ He (Justice Patterson (illegally appointed, I must add)) objected to Vishnu based on past performance, based on the other candidate having better qualifications, and based on the history of misrepresentation of qualifications to the commission’, longstanding commissioner Vincent Alexander told the Guyana Chronicle.” (See the Guyana Standard-Aug 19, 2020).
Now look at this. Instead of a retraction of the article and an apology, [Alexander] defended the statements as true in spite of plain evidence to the contrary. Please note: the “in spite of plain evidence to the contrary.”
The summary of this is that Alexander has no moral uprightness to deem anyone as racist or as a liar. But I must ask him what was behind the appointment of Roxanne Myers as Deputy CEO, even though Persaud was more qualified for the post. Then, in the case currently regarding the possible dismissal of Lowenfield, Myers, (and) Mingo, Alexander opines that “This move is obviously a ploy that has been on their (PPP/C) agenda for some time. It is not something new. I do not associate it with the elections. I think the elections is the moment that they are using.”
I close by asking readers to revisit the many misdemeanours from the trio during the post March 02, 2020 Guyana Elections.
I also back the desire of the Caricom Observer team: We insist that to maintain GECOM in its present form would be a tragedy for the nation and the people of Guyana. We therefore urge the immediate rethinking of the structural organisation of GECOM, particularly with respect to selection of the commissioners (this includes you, Mr Alexander); We need a political audit of GECOM – its successes and failings, and the factors contributing to this – both the commission and its administrative arm.
Yours truly,
Matthew Hendrix
