Swift execution of justice needed to confirm no tolerance for cheating, stealing elections

Dear Editor,
Our country will soon have Local Government Elections, the first elections hosted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) since the debacle following the March 2020 polling processes.
Accordingly, it is time to re-look at some of the core influencing factors to the problems that threatened the core fabric of democratic existence and took the country to the precipice of national incivility.
No loophole should prevent imposition of the most substantial penalties on those guilty of flagrant violations of the applicable laws, because of the need to eradicate Election rigging absolutely and to assure national confidence and credible election results. As a collective, our citizens are aware of the massive degree of caution undertaken by the newly-appointed administrators to lift the beleaguered credibility of the organization caused by the dirty works of former employees. One therefore anticipates the delivery of a more fluent results-driven agenda that will be instructive to commencing a necessary resuscitation of national confidence, required for an enhanced GECOM image.
Historically, there is much justification for condemnation of the roles officials of the GECOM played and were able to escape with as they flagrantly abused the related laws and approved procedures. For decades, the key orchestrators were protected and rewarded for cheating the nation through clandestine manoeuvres, supported by the muscled manipulation of decision-making and controls of the Elections Commission.
Recorded history documents the unpleasant experiences of the PPP, who were kept in opposition due to the damning condemnatory controls of GECOM Commissioners.
Comparatively, one only has to take a cursory look at the decisions of President Granger’s imposed James Patterson as GECOM Chairman. Thankfully, the abuses of this power were wrenched away by the decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) when the PPPC challenges were addressed.
Rational observation of the scenario points to the systemic cheating agenda and their seeming immunity to rigging. These influences stem from the core character of the PNC operatives, which informs the more challenging problem to dispel for long-term focus and address. What is certain is that the PNC’s deliberate attempts to steal the Government by the senior functionary within GECOM must not be condoned.
Consequently, former top employees must face the courts immediately, and stand the consequences for their deliberate and blatant attempts to ‘rig’ the National and Regional Elections in 2020. The swift execution of justice in this respect is required to unequivocally confirm that it is not at all okay to cheat and steal, in particular the rights and destiny of our people.
Since 1968, the PNC operatives have taken pride in rolling out an indoctrination agenda that achieving and maintaining power by any means necessary is a nationalistic ideal. Sadly, and duplicitously, those persons more strongly involved in the rigging elections in Guyana were naturally idolised in the PNC’s ranks. In this context, the PNC needed more than the complete control of GECOM to support their rigging support platform, but a mandatory component of their more expansive focused manipulation areas for strategic manipulation.
In 1973, the PNC used the army to rig the National Elections blatantly, and they murdered and killed in the process. We must never forget the Ballot Box Martyrs, who paid with their lives for standing up against the PNC-directed murderous assaults. The 1980 and 1985 Elections were massively rigged, and it was this massive rigging that caused the people of this country to unite in the formation of the Political Committee for Democracy (PCD); eventually leading to the dawn of a new era in 1992, when the PPP/C won the National and Regional Elections.
Again, the APNU/AFC attempts to steal the Government in 2020 forced the united Opposition to resist strongly. With the steadfast support of the International Community, the newly-formed ‘Guardians of Democracy’ emerged from the Guyanese Electorate. They fought for five long months, eventually winning their truthful, people-elected democratic right to govern this country. However, during the process, it became clear that employees of the GECOM Secretariat had deliberately engineered and allowed the usage of the false spreadsheet of fictitious results.
Further, the more diligent our guardians were, the more he demonstrated his ulterior motives and denied using the legal statements of poll for the tabulation process. ‘As the CEO of the GECOM Secretariat,’ his conduct dealt a deep body blow to the integrity of Guyana’s electoral system and cherished democratic values. Such occurrences justly and forcefully must be condemned as the ultimate betrayal of trust in the highest election official in the land by the people of Guyana.
As for one particular former employee, her attitude and role in the rigging were most distasteful. She insulted the imminent foreign observers, and was certainly a stranger to the truth. Her remarks to the party agents and international observers were condescending, insulting, and distasteful as she attempted to force them out of the tabulation room, saying, “Take your rubbish with you and leave.”
Several persons continue in the employ of GECOM who were summoned to appear before the Commission of Inquiry, but did not appear. Our citizens note that GECOM will still have to further cleanse itself from the remnant rogue elements, and ensure adequate internal counter-checking mechanisms.
The commissioners of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry must be complimented for an excellent job. However, those the Police have placed to face charges before the court must be given a speedy trial, and when found guilty, they must be prosecuted to send a clear message: ‘Down with Rigged Elections!”

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar