Say professor sir Hilary Beckles
REGIONAL Scholar, Professor Sir Hilar Beckles, urged Guyana not to delay the declaration and implementation of the March 2 election’s result any further, and contended that the country :should work towards sustaining the multiracial society.
“The people have spoken. And so has the highest court. From the 2019,2020 electoral campaign and franchise exercise, their will is now known,” the Professor of Economic History said in a recent statement.
The declaration of results from Guyana’s March 2 Regional and General elections has been stalled for weeks in the wake of several discrepancies which have been w1earthed. Beckles, however, reminded that the electoral process was monitored and reviewed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), alluding to his confidence· in the regional body.
“The findings of the outcome should be declared and implemented,” he advised, stating, “There is no other option that will be acceptable to the region and wider world. The future of the nation is assured with the compliance of (the) State to the popular will.”
He reasoned that the prolonging of the declaration and implementation of the elections’ results will result in a greater tarnish on the varnish of the history of a great nation. The professor also reasoned that a fear of the future that may result is not an acceptable explanation for the current situation of “franchise frustration”.
The Professor also highlighted that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the regional court and Guyana’s final court of Appeal, is counting on the integrity of the country’s polity to protect the democracy of Guyana.
On Thursday, the CCJin ruling that it has the jurisdiction to an application filed by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal on the interpretation of the Constitution; and invalidated the Elections Report submitted by the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield. That elections report, submitted by Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield on June 23, excluded approximately 115, 000 votes on the basis that they were compromised due to a string of irregularities and cases of voter impersonation.
“I join with the current and past Heads of CARI COM, the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves and the Honourable Mia Mottley respectively, and with the former Prime Minister of Barbados, the 1-lonourable Owen Arthur, in calling for the official embrace of the evidentiary truth of the election,” Professor Sir Beckles said.
‘STAY THE COURSE’
Sir Beckles’ statement, as he illustrated, were drawn from his personal ties to Guyana. According to him, his Uncle, Hilary Alfonso McDonald Beckles- whom he was named after- supported Guyana’s dream for democratic development, and that the equality of ethnicities was his personal quest.
“I know something of its history and culture, including the good and the bad times evident in its turbulent journey to and beyond nationhood,” Sir Beckles said, “It has been a torn and tortured terrain with divisive seeds sown in the colonial waters that nurture the rich land.”
Cognisant of the racial challenges that exist in Guyana, often exacerbated at ·election’s time’, the Professor underscored that the determined evidence of the debilitating deployment of ethnic identity as expressions of indigenous nationalism can be seen in far too many places. Even so, he posited that there is a “compelling story” to be told, in the history from seawalls to sugar estates. This story, he said, is the, ” … commitment to the paramount principle that the will of the people should not be toppled, but respected.”
“The children of indigenous survivors, the chattel enslaved, the deceived indentured, and others in between, must now converge at the rendezvous of victory. The minority party should stay the course and continue to contribute to the sustainability and maturity of the integrated, multiracial nation,” be said.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_13_2020