Dear Editor.
IT seems that current wisdom dictates that if you see someone attempting to break into your home, you must wait and allow him or her to do so, then allow the thief to get away before you call the police. Do not call the police to report that you have evidence showing that someone tried or is trying to steal your money or other valuables from your home. Wait until you have lost your valuables before calling the cops.
If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is. But that is precisely what the PPP/C expects from APNU+AFC supporters. That is what two prime ministers want APNU+AFC supporters to do. And that is what the Private Sector Commission in Guyana wants APNU+AFC supporters to do.
They insist that APNU+AFC ignore the evidence of electoral fraud; allow GECOM Chairman Claudette Singh to let the PPP steal the elections; count all the doctored votes and swear in the doctor as President. Then, APNU+AFC should file a petition to the High Court to complain that the elections were stolen. In their minds, that is how the process must work.
Indeed, there was a time not very long ago when Guyana operated under that principle of lawlessness. As a reminder to some, during the last elections held under the PPP/C administration, Crum-Ewing was not permitted to exercise his lawful right to protest the then attorney general; he was killed. Shot in cold blood. During that 2015 election campaign, Fazil Azeez, former radio announcer invited then Candidate David Granger to give a speech to Muslims at a mosque. The following day someone walked up to Azeez and shot him. And some may recall the election petition case in 1997. The ‘newly elected’ Janet Jagan proudly tore up a court order in front of television cameras. The High Court vitiated the results, but the election theft nonetheless succeeded. These are just a few reminders of the erosion of the rule of law taking place during the PPP/C administration, and likely to resume should that party snatch power again.
In their attempt to steal the 2020 elections using an improved 1997 playbook, the PPP/C demanded that the outdated, bloated electoral list be used. An unsuspecting GECOM chairman allowed herself to be manipulated into acquiescence. That list contains the names of tens of thousands who died or emigrated during the past 10 years. That list allowed massive rigging by a party that has not won a general election since 1997.
Although no one expected this to happen, someone or several persons impersonated thousands – not just a few, but thousands of those who were not here to vote because they are dead or had emigrated. Under normal circumstances, those fraudulent votes would not have been discovered, and the PPP/C’s theft would have succeeded. But as it turned out, President Granger and Bharrat Jagdeo agreed to a nationwide recount and audit of the election. That recount and audit allowed the boxes to be opened before the election results were declared. Many irregularities were then discovered and exposed; the PPP/C was caught attempting to steal the elections before that party could be declared the winner. Understandably, that made them and some special interest groups very unhappy to the point that they issued threats to those who attempted to uphold the law.
What must APNU+AFC supporters do? The PPP/C and the special-interest groups want them to allow the theft to succeed and then afterwards, to file a petition at the High Court. GECOM Chairman Claudette Singh, presumably under tremendous duress, attempted to push for that approach. But a courageous APNU+AFC candidate is trying to foil the most audacious attempt to steal the elections. It seems clear that APNU+AFC supporters are not ready to abide by the PPP/C’s rules or to give in to foreign special interests. They do not believe that the crime must be allowed to succeed while they stand by and watch.
The Guyana Court of Appeal agreed that only the valid votes must be counted. Yet, foreign people are pressing for, some even demanding that the fraudulent votes be counted; claiming that they are calling for democracy to be preserved. I doubt that those who want dead people’s votes to be counted in Guyana would want the same brand of democracy for their respective country. In their minds, APNU+AFC supporters do not deserve fairness at the elections.
Meanwhile, the PPP/C asked the Caribbean Court of Justice to overturn the Guyana Court of Appeal decision as they continue to press for fraudulent votes to be counted. The CCJ will make its ruling, whether with bias or not, no one knows. Then, a final decision by GECOM is expected, and that decision will be based largely on whether retired Judge Claudette Singh believes that an exposed electoral crime should succeed. She will decide whether Guyana continues as a law-and-order nation, or whether we revert to the days when the clouds of death squads and “phantoms” terrorised the Guyanese people. Let us hope that she puts Guyana First.
Respectfully
Max Mohamed
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_7-5-2020