In another act clearly meant to abuse the court process, the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition has indicated that it would move to appeal the decisions handed down by the Chief Justice on Monday in which she threw out the application filed by APNU/AFC supporter Misenga Jones, who was seeking to block the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from using the recount results as the basis for a final declaration.
The CJ’s ruling is certainly in line with the view of all stakeholders, except the APNU/AFC, that is: the recount results are the only valid results and hence, must be used to declare a winner of the March 2 General and Regional Elections.
However, due to the APNU/AFC’s grab for power, the nation will have to endure another few days, perhaps weeks, of misery as the drama is played out in court again, even though these matters were already fully addressed by the Courts.
Although it is clear that the APNU/AFC is fighting a losing battle, the coalition is bent on taking Guyana down a destructive path. The President has ignored the pleadings of the world, including his own son-in-law and former Cabinet Minister, Dominic Gaskin, for him to step down as he has lost the elections and nothing would convince citizens to believe otherwise.
It is very difficult to accept that the APNU/AFC can still be fighting a case close to five months after the fact, about something as straightforward as an election, the results of which, at the close of polls, had been known and have not changed since.
As Gaskin had stated, the “transparent” recount process provides an accurate reflection of what is in those boxes, and also shows a glaring discrepancy between the votes in the Region Four boxes and those added up and declared by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, whose “clumsy attempt” to fraudulently alter the results in favour of the coalition is what led to the recount in the first place.
Further, the CJ’s ruling in relation to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) did not come as a surprise. Like many others, we have always said that the CEO could not be above the Commission, he has to always act based on the direction of the Commission.
Not only is Keith Lowenfield obligated to carry out the directives of the Commission, he operates in a position, and works for an organisation, which requires him to perform with the highest level of integrity, professionalism, and neutrality. Even if he has a personal bias towards a particular political party, he must not allow his bias to get in the way of carrying out his duties.
It is clear as day that the David Granger-led APNU/AFC coalition will stop at nowhere in its quest to remain in office illegally. Many are asking when will this all end. The truth is, no matter how long it takes, we are confident that in the end, democracy will prevail.
We have seen the countless statements from around the world denouncing Granger and his coalition for all the strategies they are using to cling to power. All of these attempts have failed and we are certain that the coalition’s next move to appeal the CJ’s ruling will fail again.
The coalition is nearing its end and is running out of options. At the moment, the nation is tired and frustrated with the relentless efforts by Granger and his men to cling to power, even though it is clear that the incumbent was defeated at the March 2 polls.
Like many others, we have never seen this level of abuse of the court system by any government in the history of the post-independence Caribbean to hang on to power.
Granger cannot claim that he is oblivious to these attempts to deny the duly-elected Government from taking its place. The fact is, the people have spoken by way of their ballots and the PPP/C has won the elections convincingly by over 15,000 votes. No court or institution would ignore this fact and endorse any request to use discredited results to declare a winner.
We believe that the longer we allow this process to drag on, the more overtures will be made by certain elements to bring about instability, including abusing the court system, so that Granger can continue his campaign to retain power to the detriment of Guyana.
Granger and others within the coalition should reconsider what they are doing to the nation. They are only hurting the country and in the end, no one will benefit. This situation has to come to an end. Guyanese have been made to endure this misery for far too long.
