…GECOM Chair tells Jagdeo as he asked for resumption of verification process

GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo, is maintaining that his party has beaten the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) by over 15,000 votes.

He wrote the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, on Saturday in a three-page letter claiming the same, but the Chair, in a brief letter on Sunday, asked the opposition leader to await ongoing the ruling of the High Court which speaks to the declarations of Region Four.

According to the opposition leader and based on tabulations from his own party, the PPP gained 223,193 votes altogether, while the APNU+AFC gained 217,305 in the Regional Elections. He claimed that the commission had previously published on its site the results of nine regions which showed that the APNU+AFC received 100,682 votes and the PPP/C 152,121.

However, this newspaper can confirm that the commission’s site showed that these numbers are actually 100,685 votes for APNU+AFC and 152,304 for the PPP/C for the nine regions. Jagdeo based the previous numbers on a table with discrepancies which has been floating around social media and failed to tally each regional declaration by GECOM to verify his information.

Nonetheless, despite these errors, Jagdeo stated in his letter that the verification process commenced by Region Four RO, Clairmont Mingo, was interrupted on March 4, 2020 by his illness and the subsequent exhaustion or unavailability of elections officials. He also claimed that on one occasion the verification process was interrupted by “the need to locate 20 Statements of Poll in relation to certain voters which had been recorded on a spreadsheet produced by the Returning Officer.”

He said that they were different from what counting agents had in their possession and this resulted in the votes of only 421 of the 879 stations in the district being counted. The next day, on March 5, 2020, when the stakeholders were slated to return to continue the process, he said that Mingo, “in the presence of counting agents, their assistants and other observers” without resuming the verification process, made a declaration.

“At around 2pm, Mr. Mingo appeared on the balcony of third floor of the GECOM building and made an announcement which could not be heard over the objections of those present and has since not been reported,” he said. Jagdeo also said that the declaration form appearing on social media bears no official stamp. On Sunday, the PPP/C used its Facebook page to conjecture that the signature was that of Minister of Health, Volda Lawrence.
Even though the matter to block the declaration of the results for the 2020 General and Regional Elections until the Region Four votes are completely verified is before the High Court, the former PPP/C President called on the GECOM Chair to “resume the verification process voluntarily” and demanded a final count.

In her response, Singh duly noted Jagdeo’s position but stated: “However, since this matter is now sub judice, I will await the decision of the court to determine the commission’s next step.” Added to this, she noted that none of the attachments, which Jagdeo claimed in his letter were included in his email, had been in her receipt in the said email. The Chair therefore stated: “I request you submit the same for the commission’s perusal.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

Dear Editor,

EVER since the controversial no-confidence motion, there have been in my observations, colluded attempts by local and international agencies to oust the current coalition government through exaggerated claims and unfounded conclusions.

Based on subjective opinions from the opposition members, the international community has called for measures to maintain “democracy,” yet the alleged wrongdoings of the PPP/C have been ignored or minimised by the international media. How can the image of the opposition party be of a clean slate when it was only a few years ago that the PPP/C ruled Guyana with a taste of authoritarianism and allegedly conducted extra-judicial murders and human rights abuses during their sordid reign of intimidation?

Furthermore, “Opposition Protesters” have been conducting acts of violence against police and civilians. A school bus was attacked and torched. Several schoolchildren were injured in the attack. A young man started chopping up police officers, and the PPP supporters have hailed the criminal as a “martyr.” Is this the “democracy” that the international bodies are supporting?

In my honest belief, these acts are not sporadic grassroots movements, but a calculated attempt by the well-monied PPP/C elite and international organisations to sabotage the political, social and economic stability of the nation by forcing the President to step down, so that the PPP/C can continue its alleged phantom squads, discrimination and extra-judicial murders at the behest of most of their supporters.

Regards,
Riaz Hamid

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

Dear Editor,

The coalition’s victory in 2015 came as a result of an over-performance is Region 4.

The ruling APNUAFC coalition amassed an impressive 110,000 votes and the PPP/C 70,000 vote, a difference of 40,000 catapulting it into Office, supplanting: the PPP/C after Twenty Three long years. 

The coalition knew that facing a resurging PPPC in 2020 would require another over-performance in Region 4. This was no secret; the coalition campaigned confidently of getting 36 to 40 seats, possibly by gaining Amerindian support in r Regions I, 2, 7, 8 and 9 where they would pick up a + 2 seats and Region 4 where it would get enough votes to pick up to two seats nationally. We know how that turned out. 

The campaign strategy played out before our eyes. House to House Registration The coalition used this exercise to maximise the number of electors in this region. While Bharrat Jagdeo who it seemed was convince that whoever took over the GECOM Chair will end the exercise and not incorporate the data into the existing database. And indeed it was truncated but much to his chagrin the Chair ruled that the data will be used in compiling the voter’s list. 

Changes to GECOM’s

National Register of Registrants database were dominated by Region 4. Thousands of Afro and Mixed race Guyanese in this Regions 4 turned 18 during the years 20 15 and 20 19, at rates faster than any other ethnic group. A mom recently told me, albeit jokingly, that “we stopped doing abortions”. In fact, abortions may not have been an option as lack of access to reproductive healthcare didn’t provide for abortions as options for many in the middle to late 1990s. 

Mr Editor, Jagdeo’s PPP/C left many of these Black women poverty. Poor Black women in the mid to late 1990s did what poor East Indians did in 1970s and 1980s-they made lots  of children. Herein lies a demographic transition problem for the PPPC in 2020. East Indians, its traditional voting block, came out of poverty at the rates faster than any other ethnic group and as they attained middle and upper class status stopped having plenty children. You need not be a demographer to realize that East Indians have one of he lowest fertility rates in Guyana when compared to other ethnic groups. I can extrapolate that for every One hundred Black/Mixed/ Amerindian that turned 18 in 2015 to 2019, there were less than 30 East Indians A check of the Official list of Electors dated February I revealed this transition problem and benefit for he PPPC and APN+AFC, respectively. Areas dominated by Afro, Mixed Race and Amerindians had significantly more new electors than areas populated by East Indians. The coalition realizing that it will need these voters to face a resurging PPPC took every measure possible to ensure the thousands who turned 18 yrs between 2015 and 2019 made it on the list. I must add that I’m sure measures to achieve this effect were in placed way before the HTH registration. What the house to house exercise also achieved was to limit the number of people who were displaced. With 88000+ changes to the NRR and region 4 having dominated the HTH exercise one can see why the coalition most reliable region was set to deliver a massive turnout. Its supporters were on the list and those previously displaced were now in-placed and GECOM’S decision to Limit the use of private residences as polling stations was a blow to PPP/C usual nefarious polling day activities. While we know this decision wasn’t going to limit “real” turn out in their stronghold, we knew it was going to limit the possibilities of jiggery-pokery that goes at residential polling station. My projected figure  for the PPPC performance in region 4 in 2020 was on point at about 78,000. My model factored in higher turnout in their stronghold, returning AFC supporters on the East Coast, migration to USA and Canada (legally and illegally) and also the limitation of nefarious polling day bottom house activities. 

Mr Editor, it is ludicrous for the PPPC to try to convince Guyanese that it has won 42% of the votes in Region 4 having been beaten to 38% and 37% in 2011 and 2015, respectively. It absurd that the PPP-C statements of poll can show the coalition only attaining 112000 votes. Only graduates of the University of Uitvlugt will buy this nonsense. 

Region 4 was set to deliver a decisive blow to the PPPC. The foundation for this blow was set nearly 20 years ago under Bharrat Jagdeo regime. Jagdeo’s unwanted babies grew up.

Regards

AUSTIN FRASER

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

-fresh youthful faces to serve on RDC

WITH the APNU+AFC coalition gaining 86% of the regional votes cast at the March 2 elections, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) will return to the management of the coalition as was the case for many decades. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) managed to rake in about 3000 votes and therefore will be allocated about three seats on the RDC, an allocation that has been given to them for many past councils, including the immediate past one.

Former PPP Regional Councillor Dexter Harding, upon announcement of the results, said he was very pleased with his party’s achievement which reflects a slight increase to the votes the party obtained in 2015. He said the party is ready to serve the region and regional candidates will be pulled from the constituencies from which the most votes were garnered. A decision however will be made at the central executive level of the party.

Regional candidate however, Sherry Fyfe, said she is ready to serve at the regional level and will put her best foot forward to make the necessary representation for her constituency. Fyfe is already a councillor at the Linden Mayor and Town Council and is a veteran PPP member.

The APNU regional candidates however comprise a mixture of youth, women and professionals. More than half of the list consists of new faces who have never served on the regional council. These include businessman Deron Adams; Community Development Officer, Keisha Griffith McKane; Insurance Broker, Yanick Graham; Entrepreneur, Mark Goring; Restaurateur, Jemaine Figueira; Trade Unionist, Leslie Gonsalves and Community Activist, Kevon Lorrimer.

Naturally, Adams, who presently serves on the municipal council and is former Chairman of the PNCR Region 10 Chapter, feels honoured to be included on a list which will enable him not to only represent his municipality, but his region, a desire he holds close to his heart.

Looking back on the strides he has made during his political career, Adams said he had been instrumental in execution of the Information Communication Technology (ICT), programme in Region 10 and coordinated several workshops which resulted in the formation of the Linden Youth Network; this is a youth group made up of youths who successfully completed the programme and are now able to train other youths in the ICT field. “An ICT centre is currently under construction at Retrieve and this facility will give students and professionals the opportunity to access online services for free, in keeping with government’s vision for the sector,” Adams related.

Already, Adams has set the stage for subsidised ICT services at his Internet café. Being an advocate for education, Adams also launched a ”Catch up” programme for children residing on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. “ The programme was geared at boosting our children’s reading and writing skills, keeping them engaged and interested in reading books, playing games, learning the use of the computer etc in the literacy lessons,” Adams said, adding that he had also organised several book drives since entering politics. Other accomplishments include contributions to sports development, agricultural development and senior citizens empowerment through the Adopt a Grand-Friend initiative.

If given a chance to serve at the Regional Democratic Council, Adams said he will make the necessary representation to address concerns and problems such as public Infrastructure, improved health services and promoting the “green” economy.

CDO of Ituni, Keisha Griffith McKane, may be given a chance to make representation for her community at the level of the RDC. Though she has always been an advocate for community development, Griffith McKane said, “I am very enthusiastic about this nomination. I intend to advocate for job opportunities be brought to my community and neighbouring communities in the form of tourism and factories. Factories that can be established from the natural resources that are available in this area.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by AFC candidate Mark Goring, who said he is humbled to be selected as a candidate and while he is relatively new to active politics, he has been following same and has a fair idea of what is expected of him. “I’m a young entrepreneur who wants to make a difference and get things done in this region. Quietly I have been contributing to sports and education, whereas my company has done a lot of donations over the years; in fact, my company is currently sponsoring a full-time University of Guyana second-year Engineering student.”

Goring is a believer in the saying, “It is not what my country can do for me, but what I can do for my country,” and therefore will be using the platform to touch people’s lives in a remarkable way throughout the RDC and is happy that the government would have given youths the opportunity to do for their country. If elected to the regional council, I will advocate for an orphanage, a nursing home for the elderly, the best quality roads in every village, the rehabilitation of all government properties with state-of-the-art amenities, proper security at all public schools for a safer learning space and most importantly, revitalise the agriculture sector so as to be self-sufficient in Region 10,” he said.

Noticeably not on the list as a candidate is former Regional Chairman Renis Morian. In an exclusive interview, he described his tenure as a very fulfilling and satisfying one. He said he is proud of his legacy and the lives he has transformed — particularly those of young people — over the last four years. Morian said that he took the oath of RC very seriously and for him, it was not about sitting in an office, but using that office to meet the needs of constituents, particularly youths who had converged on his office seeking an avenue for betterment. Many of them, he said, were school dropouts and delinquent youths who just needed a second chance.

As a school dropout himself, Morian said that he enjoyed seeing as many youths benefitting from training, job opportunities or returning to school.

Another one of his major achievements he noted, is pushing hard for social cohesion at the level of the RDC and the community at large. “I think for me my greatest contribution in Region 10 is bringing people together; we were very much fragmented, coming to the RDC and working with all the political parties, I was able to bring people together,” he reminisced. Working with such a diverse council and with councillors of different personalities, he made it his duty that there was not disparity, which would have no doubt stagnated progress. Never once he said, was there an uproar in an RDC meeting or the suspension of meetings because of in-fighting and at the end of the four years, all councillors testified that they were indeed united. This unity was then reflected at the community level where the various stakeholders collaborated with the RDC and even residents, to ensure progress was made and help was received, especially during a crisis, such as a natural disaster.

Morian served as councillor for three councils under the previous administration and affirmed that the difference between serving under the former government and the coalition government, was that no directive was given from central government. “One of the basic changes with this administration, is that the chairman is allowed to do his duties without directives coming from Georgetown…This administration allows the chairman to be creative, to come up with new ideas; nobody writes you and says will do that. It gives you the opportunity to grow in the job and once you have a cohesive council, it will work out,” he posited. This was the catalyst for development in Region 10, as there was no intended efforts from higher up to stymie progress.

The Ministry of Communities, he said, did not focus on giving directives, but on empowering the council and providing needed help in the area of development.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

PRESIDENT David Granger, on Sunday morning, met former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr. Bruce Golding and his team from the Organisation of American States (OAS) Observer Mission in Guyana.

The meeting was held at the Ministry of the Presidency. President Granger, during his briefing, said that the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections were orderly. The President reminded that the Elections Commission is an independent and Constitutional body.

He assured the observer mission that like all of Guyana, he is awaiting the ruling of the court and ultimately, the declaration by the Elections Commission. President Granger said too that it would be improper and unlawful for him to interfere in the work of the commission.
“It would be unlawful. I have no role to play. The matter is before the Chief Justice and I will await the ruling of the Chief Justice,” President Granger said. The Head of State also condemned the levels of violence meted out to school children, villagers and the police as well as the destruction of property.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

GENERAL-SECRETARY of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, on Sunday met with representatives of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Electoral Observer Mission, led by former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

During the meeting, held at the party’s headquarters, Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown, the PPP general-secretary raised several issues of concern. He pointed out concerns about alleged attempts by some elements within the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), in complicity with APNU+AFC coalition members, to perpetrate electoral fraud in Guyana and subvert the will of the Guyanese people.

The PPP general-secretary expressed concern too about the wilful actions of the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, which flouted an injunction restraining him from actions that facilitate a declaration of final results in the 2020 General and Regional Elections. This contempt of an order of the court, according to him, is a serious matter.

Further, the signature of PNCR’s Volda Lawrence on the declaration made by the Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo was also addressed with the OAS team.

The PPP general-secretary pointed out that the nine other declarations bear only the stamps and signatures of the returning officers of those areas. As such, he questioned where this document was generated and how Lawrence’s name appeared on a crucial document. He added that this is akin to the APNU+AFC coalition declaring the results for Region Four.

He pointed out that the verification process was running smoothly and over 400 Statements of Poll were verified, when a spreadsheet, with substantial variations in favour of the coalition, was introduced into the process.

He said after vociferous protests by all the political parties, the chief elections officer, he added, proffered assurances to all the political parties – in the presence of the international observers and members of the diplomatic corps – that the verification process would recommence and continue to completion, using the Statements of Poll.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

…Nurse attacked during Opposition-led protest calls for peace; recounts harrowing tale

THE nurse whose vehicle was damaged by a mob last week Friday on the West Coast Berbice (WCB) is calling on Guyanese to keep the peace, even as she and others struggle to get over the trauma of the street violence led by PPP supporters.

Thirty-five-year-old Lynda Todd is also asking citizens to allow the politicians to resolve their differences themselves. As Guyanese continue to wait for the final declarations on results of the March 2, 2020 elections, supporters of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) last Friday took to the streets in West Berbice and on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) and other parts of the country, blocking roads, chanting racial slurs, and attacking the police as well as ordinary citizens. Several persons were injured during the ensuing skirmishes, including policemen. An unemployed 18-year-old protestor, one Seedat ‘Devon’ Hansraj, was also shot during an unrest at Cotton Tree, also in West Berbice, while attacking a policeman, Sergeant Punit Nuth Ibaran with a cutlass. The badly injured officer has had to be hospitalised.

Nurse Todd, who is attached to the National Psychiatric Hospital in New Amsterdam, and members of her family were headed west along the West Berbice Public Road on their way home to Tempe Village, when the vehicle in which they were travelling was stoned as it approached a blockade of burning tyres and other debris at Bath Settlement.

“We got out of the car, traumatised. I have never experienced something like this before. Stones were being thrown, and we had to drive through the fire, because we could not stop,” the public servant expressed. A video of Todd screaming at the protestors after the family pulled over has since been widely circulated on social media. “I kept shouting at them, asking, ‘What did we do to deserve this? Why are you throwing stones at us?’” Todd said, adding: “Everyone was crying and confused. We didn’t know what was happening; what to do.”

Among those in the car was Todd’s 15-year-old brother; her 28-year-old sister, and their parents. Todd and her sister, Latoya, an immigration officer, who also works in New Amsterdam, had both left work early that day when they got wind of the growing unrest. Unable to find transportation after crossing the Berbice Bridge on foot, the two girls had their first encounter with the protesters at Cotton Tree.

“From D’Edward, we walked to Cotton Tree,” she recounted. “Cotton Tree was our first stop; that’s where the first protesting was going on. There was a group of people there with cutlasses; we had to run for our lives.”

The girls were eventually picked up by their father, and immediately they once again came under attack. Todd said the attack was clearly racially-motivated, as aside from racial slurs against Afro-Guyanese, she noted that the vehicle of an East Indian friend of hers who was travelling in front of them, was allowed to pass through the area without incident.

“The minute they saw that we were Afro-Guyanese, stones came from all over. They broke our windscreen; there are dents on the car,” Todd recounted. Todd is now fearful for her life, as she has to pass through several of these villages on her way to work daily. Todd said she found it hard to make sense of what was unfolding before her very eyes.

“What hurt me the most is I don’t discriminate. I have relatives who are [East] Indian; I have Portuguese relatives. It really hurt me to know that you can see public servants coming from work and just target them just like that. It’s not like we were in a quarrel or a fight,” Todd said.

In Friday’s unrest, aside from Bath and Cotton Tree, in West Berbice, there were also pockets of protests in Lusignan, on the East Coast Demerara; at Windsor Forest on the West Coast Demerara; and Belle West on the West Bank Demerara. Though some news agencies described the protest as “peaceful”, Todd said the situation on the ground was far from peaceful.

“I don’t see that as a peaceful protest,” she said. “I feel victimized; my entire family feels the same.” At the wheel of the vehicle when it came under attack was Todd’s father, who barely managed to maneuver his way past a fiery blockage in his desperate attempt to get his family to safety. The dash to safety for the family, however, ended with them finding themselves blocked off on both sides by burning blockages.

Todd said she and her family spent a stressful five hours stuck in their vehicle, as the PPP/C supporters walked by, hurling racial slurs and threats their way.

“We were there locked up in the car in Bath Settlement from about 4[pm] until 9pm, in between two barricades. We could not head to Rosignol; we could not head to Georgetown. People passing with stones, and bottles and bats, chanting [racial threats]. We did not respond, we were outnumbered and fearful for our life,” Todd recounted.

The young nurse is now calling on her fellow Guyanese to let peace reign. As for the politicians, Todd says: “They need to resolve whatever issues they have with the court and whatever, and let this country go back to whatever it was before. And stop inciting violence and race hate. At the end of the day we the people of Guyana need to live in love.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

-says Guyanese should come together for unity

INTERNATIONALLY-renowned human and civil rights activist Dr. Joseph Beasley on Sunday called on all external forces to allow Guyana’s electoral process to be completed by the people of this country.

He also beckoned all Guyanese to come together to ensure that their actions during this time do not lead to the senseless loss of life and property, and the destabilisation of the nation.

Dr. Beasley is a celebrated American civil rights activist, and a leading humanitarian, who also serves as President of African Ascension.  He was an observer in South Africa’s 1994 elections that culminated to the end of Apartheid, and also observed elections in countless nations, including in Haiti, Zambia and, most recently, South Africa in 2019.

Dr. Beasley said Sunday he was saddened to hear of the country’s political crisis following the March 2, 2020 polls. He said, however, that his organisation, with partners in Guyana, is concerned that outside forces were involved in the process. “The people should lead the election process; not Western powers. We are also concerned that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada were the first parties to decry the integrity of the election outcome following their announcement, and not the people of Guyana,” Dr Beasely said through the organisation.

According to him, “We interpret their statements before and immediately after the vote count as sinister, and biased towards one group of the political elite over the other, and immediately demand that these Western Nations cease forthwith from issuing statements that can destabilise the nation of Guyana.”

He said members of the diplomatic corps should channel their recommendations through the traditional diplomatic channels as provided for under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and not through press advisories and releases. Dr. Beasley also called on all parties to follow the constitutional process, noting that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had announced the vote outcome as mandated by the Constitution.

Dr. Beasley related that the people of Guyana, back in 2015, had elected President David Granger without the support or interference of western nations. “We call on the people to come together to develop frameworks on how to ensure that the discovery of oil leads to their shared prosperity as a nation, and not permit western powers to dictate their terms of engagement with each other,” Dr. Beasley said in his statement. “Libya is a reminder that western allies, when left unchecked, are not allies in any nation’s contested political process, but interested parties,” he added.

His organisation, he said, believes that the political direction of Guyana belongs to the people of Guyana, and that the “political elite” should work together to ensure it remains that way, for them and their future generations. (DPI)

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

THE Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), as an important affiliate of the private sector, feels compelled to lend its voice directly to the major political stakeholders, in seeking a sensible and reasonable resolution to the current unsatisfactory situation and urge that action be taken to ensure the achievement of credible results to our recently held elections. Conscious of the specific roles ascribed to political parties, civil society and GECOM, as outlined in our constitution, in consort with the neutral presence of the international community, our association strongly believes that only one practical course of action is available.

GECOM, as the principal administrator in the conduct of our elections, should immediately conclude the process for Region Four, using a similar procedural and process approach as was adopted in earlier results of the previous nine regions, and arrive at an accurate and consensual result,  which has the support of the international observers. The verification requirements as stipulated by law should be applied in a similar manner to the 10 regions (districts) without exceptions. As responsible members of Guyanese society, with a primary focus on Industrial & Social Development, we wish to make a special plea to government for appropriate action as recommended to be taken to defuse the present dangerous and volatile situation.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020

THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has made it clear that it has no intention to make a final declaration on the General and Regional Elections before the High Court’s decision on whether the votes for Region Four need to be recounted.

The opposite was the accusation of the opposition and lawyers representing the opposition at the High Court where Chief Justice (CJ), Roxane George-Wiltshire, ruled that the court has jurisdiction to review the actions of the Region’s Returning Officer (RO) during his count of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) and declaration of results.

Criticisms had first come from opposition-nominated commissioner, Robeson Benn, after he and others on the commission received a letter from Chief Election Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, addressed to Chair of the Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, that he had received the declarations from all Regional ROs and compiled a final report for submission.

The letter was dated March 7, 2020 and sent to the Chair and six commissioners. Benn later forwarded the same to Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, and two others.

“I have received declarations from Returning Officers for General and Regional Elections 2020 from Districts 1-10. In accordance with Cap 1:03 Section 99, I have prepared the final report for submission to the commission. In this regard, a request is made for a meeting of the commission at your earliest convenience,” Lowenfield told the Chair.

Later at the High Court on Sunday, representing the opposition, Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes brought the letter to CJ’s attention, requesting that she order the report compiled by Lowenfield to be revoked.

However, Senior Counsel, Neil Boston, representing GECOM, Lowenfield and Region Four’s RO, Clairmont Mingo, brought the CJ’s attention to a release publicised on Sunday from GECOM Public Relations Officer (PRO) Yolanda Ward.

The letter stated that the commission is aware of the series of events which unfolded since the close of polls March 2, 2020 and, contrariwise to some sentiments shared, it has no intention of making a final declaration before the court matter is resolved.

“While it is unfortunate how things have escalated, it is the intention of the Guyana Elections Commission to abide by all legal and procedural requirements to conclude its work. On Thursday, March 5, 2020, a mandatory injunction was granted against the commission and CEO which, as a consequence, impeded the finalisation of the commission’s work,” Ward stated.

“The recent action of the Chief Elections Officer indicating to the Chairperson and commissioners that his report in relation to the final declaration was completed was not intended to disregard the court proceedings, but rather apprising the Chairperson of the completion of the document and that she may convene a meeting at her convenience. In relation to this matter, no meeting was scheduled. GECOM remains resolute in the fulfillment of its constitutional and statutory obligation.”

On March 5, 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), through attorney Anil Nandlall, secured three injunctions in the High Court to block the release and declaration of the results for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

They claimed that the declaration of results for Region Four by the region’s Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo, on Thursday, were unverified.

The first injunction sought to restrain the RO from making any disclosure of the Region Four results unless and until he complies with the statutory procedure set out in section 84 of the Representation of the People’s Act.

The second injunction “compels” the RO to comply with Section 84 of the Representation of the People’s Act and to conduct and complete that verification exercise and then make the declaration as the law requires it to be done. The third injunction sought to restrain Lowenfield and GECOM from making any declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections “unless and until” the returning officer complies with that statutory code or verification enunciated in aforementioned Act.

The court has decided that it has jurisdiction to rule on the matter and resume for a ruling on the same on March 10, 2020.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_3-9-2020