-says over 90,000 votes affected thus far

REVIEWI.NC tbc information coming out of98 more ballot boxes, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has stated that it has uncovered over 300 additional numerical anomalies. 

Previously, the party stated that it had reviewed 699 of the ballot boxes during the recount process and found 1,602 numerical irregularities that amount to over 86,367 votes affected. As of May 26, 2020, it has now reviewed a total of 797 ballot boxes and found 1,937 numerical irregularities that amount to over 90,707 votes being affected. 

The ballot boxes examined by the par­ty’s agents during the ongoing recount pro­cess came from Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Sb: and now Seven. 

According to APNU+AFC, 1,261 per­sons voted in the place of migrants; 315 Certificates of Employment are missing; 284 poll books are missing; 143 persons, who had no form of identification, voted without taking an Oath of Identity; 138 missing Oaths of Identity; 40 persons voted in the place of dead persons; 40 unstamped ballots and seven missi11g Official List of Electors (OLEs). This amounts to a total of 1,937 numerical anomalies. 

The party believes that this is “the clear intent of the PPP (the People’s Progressive Party/Civic) to commit voter fraud.” Just on Monday, APNU General-Secretary, Joseph Harmon iterated its calls for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to state how and when it is going to address a number of unresolved issues coming out of the national recount process.

Since these irregularities were unveiled in the recount, Harmon said that several electors have expressed their “disgust and anger”. 

“APNU and AFC made it pellucid that any recount would reveal significant irregu­larities committed by the PPP/C amounting to electoral fraud and that the results would put in1o serious doubt the fictitious state­ments presented by the PPP and shared with the international community … the question, however, needs to be asked of the Guyana Elections Commission, how and when are you going to address tl1e unresolved issues that are before the commission that have L been] unearthed,” he stated.

GECOM Public Relations Oficer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, last told the media on May 18 that the commission will have to investigate matters such as unstamped ballot papers to determine how it should proceed. However, the opposition believes that GECOM does not have the right con­duct such investigations and this should be a matter for the courts. 

As the recount progresses, Harmon said his party anticipates that more irregularities will be uncovered and APNU+AFC agents will continue to highlight such irregulari­ties despite the position of some that they should not be highlighted. 

Fie said that such irregularities, which the party sincerely believes will affect the outcome of the elections, can­not be ignored by the commission which has the duty to present Guyanese with a free, fair and credible elections process.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_27_05_2020

…AG asserts that GECOM has power to resolve the irregularities from recount process
… says Chairman eminently qualified to adjudicate in these matters

ATTORNEY GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, said that GECOM has the power to resolve irregularities arising from the recount process and asserted that the chairman of the electoral body is eminently qualified to adjudicate in these matters.
Williams’s comments are in direct response to remarks made by PPP/C’s executive, Anil Nandlall, last Saturday, contending that GECOM would be violating its orders and would be acting ultra vires if it opens investigations into claims made by the coalition about electoral fraud.

On Saturday, the ruling APNU+AFC contended that, of the votes recounted to date, 86,367 lack credibility as it pointed to cases in which Poll Books and the Official List of Electors (OLEs) were missing when the ballot boxes were opened. Of the 86,367 votes, the coalition is contending that 31,958 of them are affected by the variance on the OLEs. In light of the mountain of allegations, the Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, has invited the APNU+AFC to formally submit evidence in relation to their objections, particularly as it relates to deaths and migration. “The submission of evidence would inform the deliberations at the level of the Commission,” Justice Singh said in a correspondence to the APNU+AFC.

But this did not sit well with the PPP/C. In an interview with reporters on Saturday on the outskirts of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), PPP/C Executive Member, Anil Nandlall, dubbed the move by GECOM as illegal, while arguing that the Order, which triggered the National Recount, only provides for a numerical recount of the ballots cast during the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

“Anytime GECOM goes outside of the scope of that recount, GECOM will be exceeding its jurisdiction, GECOM will be acting without jurisdiction, GECOM will be acting ultra vires and GECOM will be violating the very order that GECOM published and undertook to be governed by,” Nandlall told reporters. According to him, the Order does not provide for certain anomalies (allegations of ghost voters and migrants) to be made much less the provision of evidence to support such claims. In arriving at his position, the PPP/C Executive relied heavily on the Representation of the People Act, though the Official Order, gazetted on May 4, makes no direct reference to that legislation as it relates to the procedure to be employed during the recount.

GECOM has to the power
In a letter to the editor, Williams contends that it is for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to resolve the irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies contained in the Observations Reports. He noted that paragraph 16 of GECOM’s Order provides that the recitals shall form part of the Order. The last recital of the Order provides that the conduct of the recount process is for the purpose of “…the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/ stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies issued and the number utilised; statistical anomalies; occurrences recorded in the Poll Book”.

These provisions are empowering GECOM to not only count the ballots but also to examine irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies in order to make a determination of the credibility or lack thereof, of the recount process, Williams noted. “Further, paragraph 6 of the Order provides for the use of the Observations Report Form (ORFs) to record any observation outside of the ballot box checklist; and under paragraph 12 the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) after tabulating the matrices of all electoral districts submits a report which includes the ORFs and the matrices of the ballot count for each district to the Commission. This shows a clear dichotomy between the ballot count and observations made during the recount process, confirming that it is not about the ballot count alone.

Additionally, paragraph 14 of the Order makes it pellucid that it is the Commission to resolve any irregularity, discrepancy and anomaly occurring in the recount process as revealed in the report. According to paragraph 1 (b) of the Order, the role of the Commission is to serve as the final arbiter of issues not resolved at the lower levels in the established procedure; and paragraph 1 (f) provides it shall determine and declare the final results of the Regional and General Elections 2020.”

According to the Attorney General, what is evinced upon a proper apprehension of the provisions in the Order for this special recount process is that GECOM exercises jurisdiction over it. Therefore, it is an erroneous statement by Nandlall when he asserted, “They would be violating the very order GECOM published and took to be governed by to conduct the recount”.

Qualified chairman
Moreover, he said GECOM is well equipped in that its Chairman is eminently qualified to adjudicate in these matters. She could use her wealth of experience in determining issues of credibility by assessing weight, veracity and consistency of any evidence before the Commission and can call on the General Registrar’s Office for births and deaths records and the Immigration Department for immigration records to assist in the discharge of the Commission’s responsibilities under the rules in the Order governing the recount process.

The Chairman is well qualified within the characteristics outlined by His Excellency President David Granger in his letter dated 2017.03.14 to the Leader of the Opposition that the Chairman should satisfy certain characteristics including, “ That person is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge, capable of handling electoral matters because he or she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters; that person will discharge his or her functions without fear or favour, that is he or she will not allow any person or organization to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality and that person will discharge his or her functions neutrally, between the two opposing parties, as he or she would have done in Court between two opposing litigants”.

The Chairman of GECOM would be familiar with the time hallowed common law principle that evidence is admissible once relevant irrespective of how it was obtained. In conclusion, once GECOM is acting in consonance with the foregoing provisions of its gazetted order, Nandlall’s contention that it is “now expanding the scope of this recounting exercise far outside its parameters and that it is wrong; it is unlawful”, must be rejected.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

—APNU+AFC iterates cases of irregularities
—-says voters expressed “disgust and anger” that rights disenfranchised

THE A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has iterated its calls for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to state how and when it is going to address a number of unresolved issues coming out of the national recount process.

In an online press briefing on Monday, APNU General Secretary, Joseph Harmon, said that, after reviewing over 699 of the ballot boxes during the recount, his party has found qualitative irregularities that amount to over 86,367 votes.

Listing the unresolved issues which he said must be resolved, he pointed to cases where several ballot papers had the same counter foil numbers. He said that poses the question of whether there were fake ballots printed, and how widespread, if so.

Added to this, he said, are missing Official List of Electors (OLEs) in several ballot boxes or OLEs belonging to one ballot box being found in an entirely different ballot box. Meanwhile, in other cases, he said that ballots distinguished by colour coding to represent their requisite Regions were found in ballot boxes of the wrong Region.

Harmon said that these last two cases pose the question of whether ballot boxes were tampered with and to what extent. “GECOM has to explain this,” he said.

Another matter the APNU+AFC has requested clarity on is the matter of unstamped ballots belonging to the disciplined services.

Members of the disciplined services cast their ballots on February 21, 2020 ahead of the March 2, 2020 elections. This is done to ensure that they are available to serve on E-Day. Their ballots are not stamped at the time they are cast but on E-Day when they are intermixed at specified polling stations.

However, the recount process had uncovered that, on numerous occasions, those ballots were not stamped, or were stamped only on one half of the ballot paper and were therefore deemed invalid.

GECOM Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, last told the media on May 18 that the Commission will have to investigate the matter further to determine how it should proceed. The Opposition believes that GECOM does not have the right to conduct such investigations and this should be a matter for the courts.

Since this irregularity was unveiled in the recount, Harmon said that several ranks of the disciplined services have expressed their “disgust and anger”.

To ensure that these ballots are not disregarded during the recount process as they are based not on the fault of the voter, Harmon said: “We have called upon GECOM to ensure that the votes of the disciplined services, that they are counted. We will insist on that because it was clear for all to see that the overwhelming majority of the disciplined services personnel, that they were in support of the APNU + AFC. So, it would appear to be a calculated effort to ensure that those votes, which they knew were going to come our way, that they were deemed invalid.”

Harmon said that for years, Guyana’s electoral system has been “fraught with unresolved issues” which the APNU+AFC believes has presented an avenue for the People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) to illegally obtain votes.

He said that this infringes on the democratic right of the people to elect a government of their choice and, through the recount process, the APNU+AFC has been able to expose many cases of such infringement.

“We have discovered that after reviewing over 699 of these boxes, that the qualitative irregularities that we found amounted to over 86,367 votes. These show that the dead voted, the out-of-country voted, missing poll books, affidavits of identities not signed, etcetera. It points to a systematic undermining of the GECOM process and fraud on the Guyanese population,” Harmon said.

As the recount progresses, his party anticipates that more irregularities will be uncovered. He said that APNU+AFC agents will continue to highlight such irregularities despite the position of some that they should not be highlighted.

He also said that the APNU+AFC has noticed that the main Opposition and other smaller parties have not expressed much concerns about these irregularities save to question the validity and legality of the proof being provided by the coalition.

He said that the Opposition’s criticism is that the APNU+AFC recount but now deems the process “fraught with unresolved issues”.

“The declarations made and on record at the Guyana Elections Commission is that the majority of votes cast in the March 2, 2020 elections were cast in favor of the List of Candidates for the APNU + AFC. Questions of the credibility of the process arose and it was agreed that a recount of the valid votes will be done in all ten electoral districts. APNU + AFC made it pellucid that any recount would reveal significant irregularities committed by the PPP/C amounting to electoral fraud and that the results would put into serious doubt the fictitious statements presented by the PPP/C and shared with the international community,” he said, adding:

“Yes, it is true that we called for a recount. The question, however, needs to be asked of the Guyana Elections Commission, how and when are you going to address the unresolved issues that are before the Commission that have been unearthed.”

He said that such irregularities which the party sincerely believes will affect the outcome of the elections, cannot be ignored by the Commission which has the duty to present Guyanese with a free, fair and credible elections process.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

Dear Editor,

I write with reference to an article published on the front page and page fifty (50) of the May 24th Sunday Edition of your paper captioned, “It’s court’s jurisdiction to probe election irregularities, not GECOM – Nandlall”.

I respectfully contend that it is for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to resolve the irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies contained in the Observations Reports.
Paragraph 16 of GECOM’s Order provides that the recitals shall form part of the Order. The last recital of the Order provides that the conduct of the recount process is for the purpose of “…the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/ stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies issued and the number utilized; statistical anomalies; occurrences recorded in the Poll Book”.

These provisions are empowering GECOM to not only count the ballots but also to examine irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies in order to make a determination of the credibility or lack thereof, of the recount process. Further, paragraph 6 of the Order provides for the use of the Observations Report Form (ORFs) to record any observation outside of the ballot box checklist; and under paragraph 12 the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) after tabulating the matrices of all electoral districts submits a report which includes the ORFs and the matrices of the ballot count for each district to the Commission.

This shows a clear dichotomy between the ballot count and observations made during the recount process, confirming that it is not about the ballot count alone. Additionally, paragraph 14 of the Order makes it pellucid that it is the Commission to resolve any irregularity, discrepancy and anomaly occurring in the recount process as revealed in the report. According to paragraph 1 (b) of the Order, the role of the Commission is to serve as the final arbiter of issues not resolved at the lower levels in the established procedure; and paragraph 1 (f) provides it shall determine and declare the final results of the Regional and General Elections 2020.

What is evinced upon a proper apprehension of the provisions in the Order for this special recount process is that GECOM exercises jurisdiction over it. Therefore, it is an erroneous statement by Nandlall when he asserted, “They would be violating the very order GECOM published and took to be governed by to conduct the recount”.

Moreover, GECOM is well equipped in that its Chairman is eminently qualified to adjudicate in these matters. She could use her wealth of experience in determining issues of credibility by assessing weight, veracity and consistency of any evidence before the Commission and can call on the General Registrar’s Office for births and deaths records and the Immigration Department for immigration records to assist in the discharge of the Commission’s responsibilities under the rules in the Order governing the recount process.

The Chairman is well qualified within the characteristics outlined by His Excellency President David Granger in his letter dated 2017.03.14 to the Leader of the Opposition that the Chairman should satisfy certain characteristics including, “ That person is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge, capable of handling electoral matters because he or she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters; that person will discharge his or her functions without fear or favour, that is he or she will not allow any person or organization to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality and that person will discharge his or her functions neutrally, between the two opposing parties, as he or she would have done in Court between two opposing litigants”.

The Chairman of GECOM would be familiar with the time hallowed common law principle that evidence is admissible once relevant irrespective of how it was obtained. In conclusion once GECOM is acting in consonance with the foregoing provisions of its gazetted order, Nandlall’s contention that it is “now expanding the scope of this recounting exercise far outside its parameters and that it is wrong; it is unlawful”, must be rejected.

Respectfully,
Basil Williams SC
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

Dear Editor,
IT seems that PPP/C’s legal representative and political spin-doctor, Anil Nandlall, is not so certain about his opposition party winning the March 02 National and Regional Elections as they have been crowing?

This observation is made against the background of a part of his press statement made last Saturday, when he alluded to the option of a court challenging the key aspect of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s recount exercise, of an analysis of the balloting process on Election Day, and its stated intention to investigate the growing avalanche of what are very serious electoral criminalities, that points to PPP/C’S constituencies.

Editor, it is said that law is a noble profession, and for many reasons, because of its seemingly complex learning which regulates and pertains to all aspects of our lives, represented by men/women who are sworn to uphold its lofty tenets. But inherent in its practice is the fact that it reveals the dark side of humans. One supposes that this description pertains to those whose various acts of offences have been brought to light.
But it is also fair to say that one must also examine those who are its practitioners, and what they do, in terms of using its just dictums for totally dishonest ends.

And this has been the local experience within recent times, in matters of a political nature, where many of its retained legal practitioners, for the dangerously narrow ends of vested-interest politics and other blandishments, have sought to misrepresent its many clauses for anti-national ends that have not been a blessing or boon to the profession, its advancement, or to the wider society that has been pushed to the precipice of political stress. It is not for the latter to be repeated here, since the many examples have been graphically publicised during related matters before the nation’s court.

This undoubtedly applies to the Nandlalls of this country. For this legal spin-doctor to be brazenly arguing that “Anytime GECOM goes outside of the scope of that recount, GECOM will be exceeding its jurisdiction, GECOM will be acting without jurisdiction… it will be violating the very Order that it published and undertook to be governed by.”

This is blatant eye-pass and continuing disrespect of the GECOM, that brings to full scrutiny/exposure the total duplicity of a legal ‘rep’ who is guilty of wanton dishonestly and willful legal fraud in his attempts to twist a legal agreement that had been agreed to by his party’s side of the GECOM’S commission; an arrangement to which he must have been aware, because of his status as the Opposition party’s legal adviser. But, as with so many concluded arrangements, it is always that well-known PPP/C devious trick of seeking to repudiate such agreements, with the plan of having it withdrawn.

Surely Nandlall was not asleep in either the High Court, or Appeal Court, when GECOM’s wide powers were elucidated and expounded, in keeping with Article 162 of the Constitution, “so as to ensure an impartial and fair elections process”. It was further explained that Section 22 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act is among the provisions that operationalises Article 162 of the Constitution.

Certainly, he would have welcomed such a ruling, since it validated his Party’s demand for a recount. But he and his Party did not cater for the kind of Orders which the GECOM was at liberty to construct, given the kind of scope that is inherent in its wide powers, as judicially advised.

In fact, in seeking to convey the false perception that the GECOM is acting beyond its legal remit, Nandlall is conveniently omitting the fact that Article 162 authorises the constitutional body to “issue such instructions and take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of the constitutions…” The fact of the matter, which Nandlall is attempting to spin, is that although it is said that the Constitution does not cater for a recount, which he is deviously seeking to represent, the said wider powers of the GECOM, as reminded by both courts, ascribes to the electoral body the full authority for the making of its rules for the current recount process, and any relevant action necessary to achieve satisfactory results.

It is a matter of both fact and record, of which Nandlall is fully aware but now dishonestly represents, as he desperately seeks to have his party escape from the criminalities found in the ballot boxes, that have originated from their strongholds. Again, he must be reminded that every action that is currently being undertaken by the electoral clerks are found within the gazzetted Order, as mandated.

Why would he want to challenge a gazzetted Order, executed by the GECOM, which is rooted in the authority as reminded by the Constitution? This is another devious trick in the PPP/C plot to not only destroy the credibility of the national elections body; it is also designed to bring to a halt the very process which is ongoing that exposes the true extent of the definite acts of political fraud being found. This is what Nandlall and his Party seeks to cover up, and deflect.

Regards,
Earl Hamilton

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

Dear Editor
FOR Kit Nascimento to write such falsehoods, as carried by the Guyana Times of May 23, 2020, about the President’s recent visit to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) can only be reflective of a type of citizen who has descended to the cesspool level of PPP/C opposition politics; fully at home with its putridity, as is the proven case, as he continues to offload similar refuse for and on behalf of his now political masters.

One must wonder if this is the kind of devious use that such a well-known media tradesman will put to use of his self-declared decades of communications? But Nascimento is known for serving where the dollar is highest.

I can recall in May 2000 when the US-based Beal Aerospace Technologies Inc. signed a contract with the Guyana Government to build a launch site for its BA-2 rockets in an area between the Waini River and the Atlantic Coast, which was published in the then media as the BEAL DEAL. Subsequent to this announcement, there was a STABROEK NEWS CARTOON WHICH PORTRAYED NASCIMENTO, WHO WAS HIRED AS THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE BEAL DEAL PROJECT, JUMPING FROM THE PNC PALM TREE INTO THE PPP/C CUP, CAUSING THE SOUP WITHIN TO SPLASH.

This is a matter of public record, hence there is no conflict/dispute of fact.
Of course, he took umbrage at such a depiction, by publicising his protest. But that such an illustration had been done was because this same Nascimento, who had been a minister in the Burnham government sometime in the late 60s into the very early 70s, was perceived as a political opportunist. And was this not the same Nascimento, who many can testify could have been seen in and out of the precincts of Congress Place, in the run-up to the 1997 general elections?

Further, this is the same former PNC minister who became the spokesperson for and on behalf of the Berbice Bridge Inc. when it was promoting its unjust, rapacious and unconscionable plan to raise its bridge toll fees to astronomical levels for some known PPP/C shareholders, that had it not been for the decisive and just intervention of the Coalition government, citizens, especially Berbice residents having to traverse both divides, would have been suffocated by such increased bridge tolls. It was Nascimento who, as the face of the Berbice Bridge Inc., held many press conferences on this issue.

No one denies Nascimento his right of political affiliation, since it is his democratic right, though one should wonder as to the kind of citizen who would want to be aligned with such a political party as the PPP/C, whose record of governance is also well chronicled, even at the level of US State Department.

But to resort to malign and defame the person of the nation’s president for his decision to visit the recount process at the ACCC, begs so many questions. How in the name of good Heavens did Nascimento arrive at the defamatory and libelous accusation that “Granger is not innocent of attempt to force rigged elections on Guyana”? Is this frenetic PR mouthpiece of the private sector inferring that such a presidential visit is part of such a plan? And how has he arrived at such a politically- warped and lame-brained calculation, given the president’s undisputed principled and unmatched position that GECOM IS BOTH IINDEPENDENT AND AUTONOMOUS, WITH THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PREPARATIONS FOR NATIONAL ELECTIONS?

Of course, the elections have been rigged, and it is being clearly established who the riggers are/WHICH POLITICAL PARTY, because the evidence is being found every day IN SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES from the relevant constituencies, OF THE VERY POLITICAL PARTY WHICH NASCIMENTO NOW SUPPORTS. In fact, Nascimento must know that what is being uncovered flies in the face of the sham pretence at ELECTORAL DEMOCRACY, WHICH HIS CURRENT POLITICAL PALS HAVE ALWAYS MASQUERADED AS UPHOLDING. HE MUST ANSWER, HOW HE COULD SUPPORT A PARTY THAT PREPARED FOR THE RIGGING PROCESS, BY ITS TRENCHANT BATTLE AGAINST A CLEAN LIST OF ELECTORS VIA HOUSE-TO-HOUSE REGISTRATION.

As a reminder to this shameless political grasshopper, none of the leaders within the PPP/C can match the impeccable morals and qualities of President Granger. Not one! He attended all the known and easily- located academic institutions, wherever they are to be found. Further, he is not before any courts for any criminal matters; and he has led a government that, despite the naked acts of disrespect, shown he has not been vindictive, spiteful, or nasty to those guilty of such shameful acts that are unbecoming of civility.

Above all, his governance has been one of genuine democracy, and freedom of expression, so much so that the Nascimentos and those of his ilk can abuse the person of the president so often.
His record of socio-economic achievements has been done for the betterment of all Guyanese, even for those who do not support him/government. Because of this, Guyana is a better place, with greater hopes, especially for the poor and disadvantaged Under his government the policy of, NO RACE/ETHNIC GROUP MUST BE LEFT BEHIND: THEY MUST ALL BENEFIT

And as yet another reminder to Nascimento, President Granger was elected as leader of the PNC/R in a primary-style election where the process had been free and fair. Secondly, he was chosen in a DEMOCRATIC MANNER; NOT FOISTED UPON THE PARTIES TO LEAD A COALITION OF PARTIES THAT SOUGHT TO CHALLENGE THE DEBILITATING TRADITION OF RACE POLITICS IN GUYANA. But the tone of Nascimento’s nasty attacks infers that being African Guyanese, and being president of Guyana, is not a right, although competed for fairly, as David Arthur Granger would have done.

With the latest political depravity, as written by Nascimento, advancement of professional media cannot occur in Guyana IN THE DESIRED MANNER; not with the present configuration of the media which is a poisonous example of vested interest and dangerous racism. His type is not only a very desultory example, but only serves to mislead younger journalists.

Finally, Editor, I close with a quote from Rickford Burke, president of the Brooklyn-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), who sums up this erstwhile character succinctly, “Shouldn’t this fossil be parked somewhere in the national archives with an engraved footnote saying, “Discarded old fool?”

Regards,
Earl Hamilton

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

…decisions on additional workstations, extension of recount pending

With 1,133 ballot boxes from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections left to be processed, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), this week, is expected to extend the 25-day timeline for the National Recount even as it continues to explore the possibility of further increasing the number of workstations.

Elections Commission, headed by Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, met on Monday. However, no decision was made to extend the duration of the recount as it awaits clearance from the National COVID-19 Task Force for the establishment of two additional workstations within the Arthur Chung Conference Centre – the venue of the national recount.

Last Wednesday, the Elections Commission asked the National Task Force to reconsider its decision to allow for two more workstations to be added, in an effort to accelerate the pace at which the 2020 Elections Ballots are being recounted. To date, a response has not been forthcoming. An increase in the number of workstations would directly impact the pace at which the ballots are being recounted, and would ultimately influence the duration of the exercise.

Two days before the request was made, the COVID-19 Task Force had approved the establishment of two workstations from a proposed six based on an earlier request. Initially, there was a total of 10 workstations operating for a period of 11 hours (08:00hrs to 19:00hrs) daily at the Conference Centre.

However, the Elections Commission, in reviewing the exercise, took a decision in the second week of the recount, to increase the number of workstations but sought clearance from the COVID-19 Task Force, in light of the Emergency Measures that have been in place since mid-March. On Monday, May 18, 2020 the COVID-19 Task Force submitted its report to the Elections Commission, and though highlighting a number of infractions, approved the establishment of the two additional workstations. Those new workstations were put into operation on Tuesday.

However, GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, said that though there are now a total of 12 workstations engaged in the recounting of ballots, two more workstations are needed to effectively increase the pace at which the ballot boxes are being processed.
In an interview with reporters on Monday, on the margins of the recount at the Conference Centre, Elections Commissioner Sase Gunraj, while confirming that GECOM has not concretised its plan to extend the 25-day timeline, said the Commission is anxiously awaiting clearance from the COVID-19 Task Force.

“We are still anxiously awaiting, a decision or a position on the addition of new workstations. It is the singular most important factor in improving the pace at which this process will be concluded,” Gunraj told reporters.

He noted that since the number of workstations was increased to 12 on May 19, 2020, the number of ballot boxes processed on a daily basis has increased. However, he said, much more is desired. During the early days of the recount, the number of ballot boxes processed on a daily basis ranged between 40 and 60; however, since the first increase took effect, the number of boxes processed has been between 70 and 88.

“I believe that with the addition of more workstations, that the numbers can rise and rise significantly, that is to say the number of boxes processed daily,” Gunraj said. According to him, the locations for the additional workstations have been identified. Were it up to Gunraj, the stations would have been established and put in operation but the decision lies in the hands of the entire Commission.

Even as it awaits further advice from the Task Force, the Elections Commission, he said, will be taking critical steps to reduce down time at the workstations. “We recognize that several of our processes are not operating with maximum benefits and with maximum efficiency and as a consequence we have agreed to take steps in relation to speed up the [process],” the Elections Commissioner said. Already, the Commission has resolved a basket of issues, which in effect, addressed a number of “teething” problems that were experienced during the early days of the recount.

1206 BALLOT BOXES PROCESSED TO DATE
Notwithstanding the challenges faced, the Elections Secretariat, to date, has processed a total of 1,206 ballot boxes, with all of the votes from Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) recounted as of Monday. All of the ballot boxes from Region One (Barima-Waini) and Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were completed earlier. The completion of Region Five paved the way for the ballots from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) to be recounted.

According to GECOM’s PRO, the last seven (7) boxes from the Mahaica-Berbice District were processed on Monday. That district has a total of 158 ballot boxes.
Aside from those seven, 18 ballot boxes from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) were processed on Monday, in addition to 21 from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 18 from Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), seven from Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), five from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and six from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) – a total of 82.

Ward also indicated that of the total number of ballot boxes processed from Region One (Barima-Waini) to Nine, 1,169 Statements of Recount (SORs) have been tabulated for the General Elections, and 1,117 for the Regional Elections. SORs are generated once the ballot boxes have been processed.

Based on the votes recounted for Region One, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) secured 3,909 votes in the General Elections while the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) raked in 170, PPP/C 8002, People’s Republic Party 24 and the United Republican Party, six – a total number of 12,111 valid votes cast. According to statistics coming out of GECOM’s Tabulation Centre at the ACCC, there were 328 rejected ballots and 41 spoilt ballots.

In the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC raked in 3,843 votes while LJP secured 144, the PPP/C, 7, 996 and the URP 77 votes. There were a total of 12, 060 valid votes cast by a total of 12, 440 persons who had presented themselves on March 2 to vote in Region One.

Meanwhile in Region Two, the APNU+AFC secured 7,340 votes in the General Elections while the PPP/C raked in 18,785 votes. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) received 85 votes while Change Guyana (CG) 151, LJP 121; PRP, 57; The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) 18 and URP, 64. In total, there were 26,621 valid votes cast.

For the Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC received 7,290 votes while its primary contender – the PPP/C – secured 18, 755. The smaller parties, Change Guyana (CG) raked in 216 votes while LJP secured 135 and URP, 95. There were a total of 26,491 valid voters in the Regional Elections for Region Two.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_26_05_2020

–our leaders must sit and talk… in order to design a system that will allow us to live in peace

Dear Editor,
CITIZENS and friends of Guyana at home and abroad should be thankful for Mr. Stanley Ming’s clarity in dealing with the most worrisome aspect of our recent National and Regional Elections.

In an earlier contribution, I was among those who urged the urgency of constitutional reform, on the assumption that a precursor should be the meeting of minds of our political leaders who represent the two major groupings in our society.

Having lived through the troubles of the 1950s, the challenges of change of the ‘64-‘92 period, and the 1992-2015 PPP/C Administration, it is clear that a sort of attitudinal somersault is necessary if we are to save our country and citizens from the stress, strain and insanity that characterized Guyana 54 years after independence.
Publicly, I express great disquiet that we should go into what we all called the Mother of all Elections in 2020 with a tainted list.

On this score, we must all thank Patriot, Mr. Stanley Ming for his analysis and production of figures.
YEAR OFFICIAL LIST OF ELECTORS TURNOUT VALID VOTES 1997 462,415 408,003 399,258 2001 440,186 403,706 396,506 2006 492,369 341,426 336,671 2011 475,495 342,236 342,236

QUESTION: How is it possible that for 2015, the OLE contained 570,787 persons with a voter turnout of 416,055 and 412,912 valid votes?
This shows that compared to 2011, the OLE increased by 95,291; the voter turnout increased by 73,819, and valid votes increased by 70,676.
For an OLE in 2020 of 660,998 persons, with 65% of the population being 18 years and older, the current population should be approximately 1,016,000.
It must be noted that in 1992, when the population was approximately 745,000, and about the same as it is presently, the OLE was 384, 195 with 303,176 valid votes.
For 2020, with approximately the same population, the OLE is now 660,998, an increase of 72% with valid votes of 440,000. An increase of 45%!

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!
The watchword coming from all quarters, Government, Opposition, Friends, Soothsayers, aliens and foreigners is the credibility of Elections 2020.
Listening to observations coming from both sides of the political divide, it is clear that the end of the present re-count will produce a result that will be considered credible by less than half of our population.

This truism is a recipe for contention, confusion and who knows, conflict.
This constitutes an unhappy and dangerous political environment for this and succeeding generations to inherit.

But which sane or perceptive individual can deny the validity of the above analysis?
Elections everywhere, National, Regional, Community, Associations et al. have never produced a satisfactory situation if the parties/groups taking part hold the Elections with a list that is inflated.

The simple logic is, if we begin this so-called democratic process of Elections with an imperfect list, it is palpable that the result will be equally imperfect.
Last week, I noted that an Election is not the business of Sisters-of-Mercy, Angels or Saints.

The figures provided by Mr. Stanley Ming are verifiable. This in itself puts into question the credibility of Elections itself.
The people of Guyana accept that, for whatever reason, we have failed to overcome the suspicion and fears of the two major ethnic groups in Guyana, whether the Philosopher or Historian wishes to blame it on slavery and the concerns of the freed slaves that the European plantocracy, in one master move, removed their post-slavery bargaining power by introducing Indentured Labourers. This, of course, is another matter.

The fact that we have troubled waters suggests the need for a solid bridge over the troubled water.
Our Leaders must sit and talk, and talk, and talk in order to design a system that will allow us to live in peace, with plenty.

Allow us to recognize that we must be correctly cautious when we embrace outside intervention and the big brother manipulation.
When our Leaders meet, and I hope soon, it must be against the background that there will be certain non-negotiables.
First, it must be justice for every citizen. Then, of course, the reasonable distribution of wealth, the opportunities must be based on no other criteria, but suitability and competence.

Second, that all sides agree to zero-tolerance for corruption in every form, and that society must be unafraid to punish and expose those who violate the rules, and laws agreed to as a result of a consensus.
I am copying this brief appeal for sense and sanity prevail to our Leaders for their cogitation and action.

But, Mr. Editor, that process will take some time, particularly in an environment where there is an element of distrust.
My humble suggestion is this:

GECOM should be required:

(1) To complete a national house-to-house registration of electors;

(2) subject to the legal constitutional position that the post-recount Government agree to facilitate National Elections within a few first months after the conclusion of the national House-to-House registrations, claim, objections, verification, et al; and

(3) the search should begin to identify electoral officers who have no known ties to any particular political parties.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast; young and old must be optimistic.
As an aside, I was tempted to respond to the imperial-like arrogance and disdain for other people as contained in the reply published on Friday by the Carter Center.

I ask them to digest the meaning and significance of the words found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 7 vs 5 “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shall Thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thine brother’s eye.”

Regards,
Hamilton Green

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_24_05_2020

IN politics, as in life, there are unanticipated outcomes of deliberate actions. There is, no doubt, that the PPP intended to steal the 2020 Elections from the Guyanese people. When they agreed to a recount, they must have felt that the bullying tactics which they employed, with good effect, in the early days of the impasse would prevail.

They must have also thought that the APNU+AFC would have wilted under the pressure from the likes of the Private Sector Commission, the Observer Groups which they have misled, and, to some extent, some forces in the diplomatic community.

So, now that the ‘Coalition’ has joined the struggle to unmask the PPP, and show the world how that Party has systematically undermined the electoral machinery in its quest for victory, the schemers at Freedom House are running scared. This past week, sections of the media, which had also bought into the PPP’s narrative, were given some of the “evidence” they had been asking for. Faced with this bombshell, many of them have sought to downplay its effectiveness. Some of them have barely mentioned it in their pages. But the truth cannot be suppressed for too long.

Thanks to the investigative work of the APNU+AFC team, and GECOM’s insistence on a recount that goes beyond the votes in the boxes, the truth is coming out into the open. While the PPP has tried to make the election about the unsubstantiated allegations against Mr. Mingo, the ‘Coalition’ has clearly shown how the PPP took advantage of the bloated voters list to engineer the heist of the election, long before Mingo’s declaration. They have been caught red-handed.

The PPP must explain to all those it managed to dupe into believing that it won the election, and also to GECOM, how such a large number of non-resident Guyanese voted for them. How did those votes get into the boxes? Who physically cast those votes for the PPP? Where did they get the identification cards to impersonate those absentee voters? These are profoundly serious questions. This publication holds the view that the large number of instances of these infractions point to a larger web of tampering that makes a mockery of electoral integrity.

But this is not the only mode of tampering that has been unearthed. There are the numerous instances of missing polling books; the case of persons voting, ostensibly with certificates of employment, but not producing said certificates; the lack of stamps on the ballots cast by members of the Disciplined Services; and the instances of dead people voting. As Aubrey Norton has argued, taken together, these anomalies and irregularities expose a grand rigging operation that appears to have been coordinated with precision. That the PPP and its allies in the media are seeing to wish away this evidence, or pretend it does not exist, add to its authenticity.

This publication holds no brief for the Coalition, but it is high time that the false narrative which the PPP has foisted on Guyanese be exposed for what it is. We now know that all the talk about democracy and the rule of law was meant to cover up the expansive violation of the law and the integrity of the elections. The PPP’s cynical response that such anomalies should form the basis for an Election Petition does not cut it. They want it both ways. On the one hand, they have argued that GECOM has the power to correct instances of fraud, as it pertains to PPP charges. But when it comes to similar charges from the Coalition, they now argue that GECOM lacks the power to act. Guyanese are much more sensible than they think.

It’s still relatively early in the process; less than half of the boxes have been audited. So, it is reasonable to expect the volume of infractions to exponentially increase. It does not show our country in good light, when one of the contenders for office is found to be acting in such an embarrassing manner. But the truth must come to light. Some organisations and socio-political forces which ought to know better have allowed the PPP to get away with too much. It is time that their client be called out, and they be called to book for aiding and abetting skullduggery.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_24_05_2020

By Adam Harris

LIFE in Guyana has changed radically for many. Bars are almost all closed, fast-food outlets do not have lines and for sure, no school is open. Traffic has been drastically reduced on the streets and just about anyone seen walking on the streets have a mask. Forget the air travel that had become so much a part of the lives of Guyanese. The car park at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport has never been so void of vehicles. People simply do not need to transport friend or relative to the airport.
Last year, at this time, parents would have been saving up to get a new outfit for their school children who would have been moving on to a higher level of learning. The National Grade Six examinations would have been over.

Everything has been put back because of a vicious strain of the coronavirus. Just a few short months ago people were reading about an outbreak in China. Social media carried videos of people collapsing and dying on the streets of Wuhan, China.
And while those videos were circulating, Guyanese basked in the knowledge that they were so far away and therefore could not be affected. There were even elections in March, some three months after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Little did people know that days after the elections Guyana would have recorded its first case. A woman travelled from Queens, New York, came into the country, met with doctors at two city hospitals and died. A test for the coronavirus confirmed the worse. Coronavirus had arrived. Most were not worried. There were those of us who believed that the climate would have protected us. There were reports that the hot weather would have killed the virus that had now become known as COVID-19.

Perhaps the heat does kill the virus but that does not stop person-to-person transfer. We are in a crowded place and one infected person is among us; rest assured the virus would spread. And spread it did. Now, people everywhere seems to be contracting the virus. There are those of us who take every precaution but there are others who care precious little. Perhaps it is the syndrome that propels thieves to enter people’s homes or to commit some of the crimes they do.

There are people out there who believe that they are exempt from certain measures. I still see crowds liming at bars and gathering at house parties in parts of the city. Indeed, most of the people gathered are men. This would explain why more men are infected with CIVID-19 than women.

As the recount is progressing I cannot help but notice that some people still believe that COVID-19 is a joke. The Guyana Elections Commission agreed to ten counting stations that would attract no more than one hundred and eighty people.

The People’s Progressive Party had campaigned for twenty stations. As if to prove that more people could be accommodated inside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, at least 400 crowded the venue. Indeed, some of these were ancillary staff like the police and the cleaners, but that number was still too large.

There are now twelve counting stations and the possibility of two more. If this is going to quicken the recount while ensuring that the people working there remain safe, so be it. There are people who are asymptomatic—displaying no symptoms—but can spread the virus. At the same time I have noticed that people who were infected but recovered are denying ever being infected. There is no shame; COVID-19 is not AIDS.

But denial is the name of the game and it continues throughout the recount. I remember the contention that only the District Four box should be counted. The noise surrounding this contention was deafening. Fortunately, every district is being counted. Attempts at rigging are being discovered from the opposition side. However, if one were to rely on the news media and social media, one would never know this. The Official list of Electors from one polling booth ended up in another. How?

These lists could not move on their own so there had to be collusion between presiding officers. They have so far failed to present themselves before the commission. But the critics are making no mention of this. Kit Nascimento, who, in a letter on Friday, said that he witnessed the Mingo fraud twice, has said nothing about this. Perhaps he did not witness it but GECOM reported it and he must have heard about it. He was at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre to the point of addressing the media to correct, as he said, information that Cathy Hughes presented.

Each day the coalition agents report on dead people voting and on people who have migrated actually casting their ballots in Guyana. This will be addressed by GECOM, but the opposition-backed critics are saying nothing. Everybody seems focused on Clairmont Mingo who, in his own deliberate judgement, according to them, fiddled with the numbers.
It could not be a case of the presiding officers actually presenting those so-called inflated numbers to Mr. Clairmont Mingo.

Disrespect is a hallmark of people opposed to the coalition or those who were paid to champion the PPP cause. I will talk about this later. In one case, the sum of US$25,000 was reportedly paid to a very vocal critic of the coalition. Then there are the unstamped ballots. The presiding officers knew that an unstamped ballot would be deemed invalid. Here is where the opposition mischief is most evident. Those unstamped ballots contained votes cast for the coalition.

GECOM will examine this issue and allot the votes where they should go. I expect a noise about GECOM breaking the law. I will hear all manner of complaints, but none about the mischief that would spark the complaint. Missing poll books, people voting without oaths of affidavit and no identification cards in PPP areas, and missing counterfoils to match the ballots cast are all part of the exercise to promote the cause of the opposition.

Meanwhile, the attacks against the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission appear to have subsided. Some praise is actually being directed at the commission. It matters not that one commissioner decided that he could speak for the Chairperson.
Why this action has not been commented on needs no explanation. Had the chairperson said nothing, then taken a decision on the issue of the allegations before the commission, she would have been hounded to hell and even further.

And for the records, as for me being a paid mouthpiece “of the PNC’s crab for fraudulent power”. Indeed, I have always been PNC and I never made a secret of my political affiliation. I have all my life been a professional journalist and that will not change. But as for being a paid mouthpiece, I wish Nascimento could identify my paymaster. My views are in the open for free. I am not sure Nascimento could say the same thing. And Kit, for now, we may be on the opposite side of the fence but I am still the same Adam Harris you considered your friend.
Change.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_24_05_2020