Caricom leaders will have to guarantee an accurate recount

Dear Editor,

In reference to your news item (Apr. 28) that the high level Caricom team is expected to arrive on April 30, there is no timeframe when the count will begin or end? Without some kind of terms of reference to deter fraud, those of us who studied political science know it won’t end well – to quote the words of Trinidad & Tobago PM Dr. Keith Rowley. When you study political science (a sub-field called political psychology), you know how political actors behave.

Anyone who partakes in democratic electoral processes and places faith in fair outcomes won’t put so many wrenches in the path of or oppose an open, transparent electoral process. If actors had sought advise of political experts, errors would have been avoided and Guyana would have avoided this electoral dilemma.

When this Caricom team arrived in Guyana in mid March, I told my friends the recount won’t happen. Truth be told, the Caricom packed up and left. Six weeks later, the team has been given approval to return on Thursday with certification of negative tests for COVID-19. (I am on record as saying that a recount is not needed. To have a recount, you must first have a certification of the tabulation of the SOPs, which legalizes the count. There was a tabulation and certification of SOPs of nine regions and were all accepted by all the parties. Region 4 was not completed and certified and was challenged in court that instructed GECOM to complete the process. That should be undertaken to complete the count before the start of a recount. Any other course is fraught with inherent dangers.)

When the court ruled three weeks ago that Caricom could observe and validate the process under the supervision of GECOM, friends in Guyana, optimists, told me that the process would commence the same weekend. I countered it won’t be before the first week in May, I was called a pessimist. Three weeks later, we wait.

So the team arrives on Thursday, visit the site on Friday, set up the infrastructure weekend and move the containers. The recount may possibly begin next week. Expect more obstacle and more delays!
When will the recounting be completed? Not anytime soon as I told friends. There will be obstacles, challenges, and disagreements strewn in the path of the recount.

And will the recount be accurate? Will votes be discarded? Are boxes stuffed? Will recount align with SOPs in the boxes? If two earlier efforts failed, what makes one feel the third attempt would be any different? Well, one cannot give up hope for what other option is there when political actors failed or have no good intention. Will the loser concede? So far, there has not been any evidence of acceptance of a defeat. Will it end well? For it to end well, Dr. Rowley, PM Mia Mottley, and other Caricom leaders will have to intervene to guarantee an accurate count and to end the shenanigans.

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram