By Adam Harris
THE past week has been rather hectic. Many things happened. I was threatened with legal action over my column published last week. I reported to the police to report a physical threat I received and subsequently paid three visits to Eve Leary. I hasten to state that, contrary to a report in another newspaper, I never apologized for last week’s column. I don’t intend to. Then the recount of the March 2 ballots began. Indeed the process is slow because it is more than counting votes. It is about examining the process, checking the list of electors in the box, looking at the polling stamp and all the things that went on during the actual voting.
Almost as soon as the recount started there was a problem. The poll book that records everything that went on in the district was missing. When approached, the returning officer said that he had quit the job. He declined to say when.
I then queried the impartiality of the media. Clairmont Mingo was vilified over his declaration of the District Four count. He was slandered and libelled. Had he done what this returning officer did I wonder if the dust would have settled.
Indeed the accusation spread far and wide. The entire Guyana Elections Commission, minus the opposition commissioners, was accused of rigging the elections in favour of the coalition government.
In the run up to the recount the political opposition, through its commissioners, then demanded that GECOM decline to use anyone who was accused of fraudulent activities during the elections. No one has provided any evidence of such activities.
The recount is underway. One opposition spokesperson, Anil Nandlall, now says that the elections were free and fair. He even quoted President David Granger. But the very Nandlall has challenged these very free and fair elections.
His focus is on District Four which has the largest bloc of voters and which has always voted overwhelmingly for the coalition. He is challenging the figures being declared for District Four. The recount will reveal everything.
Of interest is the fact that none of the protesters was keen to pay attention to challenges made by the coalition in other districts. There were reports of irregularities in District One, Two, Three, Five and Six. But every objector contended that there were no problems with these districts. Now that the recount is on we are finding problems.
And even as the recount is ongoing I hear some statements that the coalition made prior to the recount. When the opposition was objecting to all manner of things, commissioners for the coalition said that such complaints should come by way of an elections petition.
This was ignored. The clamour was as loud as can be for a review of the District Four ballots. Now Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, is objecting to some of the challenges that are surfacing during the recount.
There is a challenge to dead people voting, one to migrants who no longer live in Guyana casting a vote, and people’s names being written on the list of electors. There are claims of people voting at a particular polling station without the requisite letter.
Jagdeo is insisting that such challenges should come by way of an elections petition.
Each day some weird things happen and peculiar statements are made. I did not hear Jagdeo’s press conference but he is reported to have said that he would swear in Irfaan Ali. I smiled because I remembered the situation in Venezuela.
There is a president and the opposition also swore in a president. The difference is that the opposition has no power. What was most interesting is the support that the opposition seems to be getting from the major powers among them the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
A similar situation was envisaged for Guyana. The reaction of these powers actually had an impact on the closure of the elections. There were two declarations but with talk of sanctions and refusals to recognize a government elected under such conditions, President David Granger refused to be sworn in.
I do not want to believe that Irfaan Ali is so hungry to be president that he would be sworn in against all the electoral laws of Guyana. Then he has to worry about being arrested. Jagdeo would not be able to save him if he, Irfaan, goes about impersonating the head of state. Perhaps the plan is to allow him to do so in his own home.
Freedom House may be able to pay him and whoever he appoints as his Cabinet. For sure, the money would not be coming from the public treasury.
Actions like these only serve to split the country. One group of people would become very angry at a time when there is no need for anger.
We saw what happened on East Coast Demerara and in West Berbice when the political opposition mounted a protest. Sadly, one person died. Policemen were beaten to within an inch of their lives.
Unlike what happened in 1963 and 1964, when violence in one part of the country sparked violence in another part and dozens of people died, there was no reaction from the other side. So, to further sow division can only be seen as trying to foment unrest.
At the same time Jagdeo is claiming victory. Both major political parties were warned about such claims. There has been no warning to Jagdeo this time around from the observers and the diplomatic community.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_10_05_2020