Dear Editor,
The APNU/AFC will never allow the votes in the containers to be counted. I have taken the time to listen to what the representatives of those parties are saying, and it is clear from word and action that they will not be moved to respect democracy and the will of the people as expressed on ballots will never be counted while there is breath in their bodies. Where then does this leave Guyana and its law-abiding citizens?
APNU/AFC is engaged in a game of ‘hold me, loose me’ using the courts and a compromised Elections Commission Secretariat, these stars are never in alignment, now we can add COVID-19 and curfew to the group of impediments to a count. There is a reason for hope, however, after the marvellous Mr Mingo’s mysterious methodologies produced figures that gifted a victory to David Granger on March 13, he did not immediately move to be sworn-in as President; he declined to do so on March 14 and on March 15, Granger announced that given the claims of fraud, he had invited Caricom to supervise a recount. What then were the estoppels on those three days? There was no court case and I can assure you that had Mr Granger wanted to, a swear-in would have taken place, Chief Election Officer’s report and the GECOM Commission be damned.
Had Granger claimed that the Commission received the CEO’s report, certified the election and declared him the winner, and thereby provided him with the authority to be sworn, who would have been able to contradict him? And it what fora? The only humbug was the little matters of recognition of his Government by other Governments and the actions of an enraged population. And here we are, dancing to Granger’s Cs, but for how long? Granger himself said, “The longest night is broken by the dawn” and I concur.
The civilised world is promising personal sanction to anyone who benefits from the electoral fraud; to those who are accepting contracts or in contact with the undemocratic cabal, a Caribbean phrase comes to mind “yuh can’t go crab-dance and don’t expect mud’.
In considering where this leaves Guyanese, I am minded of the tale of Saddam Hussein, the legendary strongman of Iraq. Faced with increasing suspicion of a nuclear weapons programme, Saddam was being forced to accept frequent United Nations inspection teams, given that no programme existed, Hussein should not have resisted, instead, he chose to stall, obfuscate, and even play mind-games, moving truckloads of equipment from facilities before inspections in full view of US spy satellites.
This all culminated in a destructive war against Iraq and with Saddam being pulled out of a hole in the ground and ignominiously hanged by the neck until dead in a subway station of a country he once ruled with more power than a king. This tale from a fellow ‘oil-producing nation’ is as instructive as it is cautionary; it is the best advice I can offer to the obdurate incumbent.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh
