Claudette Singh must insist that the international observers come back for the recount

Dear Editor,

On 4th March, 2020, Gecom Officials tried to falsify the count of the Statements of Poll for Region 4. It was not done subtly or with craft. It was crude and obvious. They simply ignored the SOP’s and read from a spreadsheet of unknown origin which contained numbers bearing no resemblance to those on the actual SOP’s. After the Chief Justice directed Mingo to do it again, they did it again. They moved location to a tent in the yard of Gecom’s head office in Kingston and informed that no one was permitted to record the process with phones or otherwise. Then, they began to announce numbers which had no relation to those on the actual SOP’s. Again, there was no subtlety; it was crude and obvious.

And it would have worked. It would have worked because there is not a thing that any of the opposition parties can do about it. Our protests can be sneeringly dismissed by the fraudsters at Gecom without the slightest discomfort. The Gecom counting officials have demonstrated twice that they are brazen and belligerent enough to cheat us in front of our faces, and there is nothing we can do.

Their single mistake was to execute their crude rig in the sight of the international observers (including OAS, Com-monwealth, EU, US Ambassador, British and Canadian High Commissioners). It was the presence of these international observers which gave pause to the beneficiaries of the rig. Threatened with sanctions and isolation, Mr. Granger agreed to permit a Caricom team to oversee a recount (although he kept a card up his sleeve in the form of Ulita Moore’s court action). Receiving similar pressure, the previously invisible Claudette Singh gave assurances that Gecom would restart the count and this time do it fairly.

Ulita Moore’s case is now dismissed, and Gecom can undertake the recount. But, in the meantime, the international observers from OAS, EU, and the Commonwealth have left. And our leaders will gleefully cite COVID-19 and insist that the international observers cannot return to observe the recount – that the Caricom team cannot return to oversee the recount.

Claudette Singh must insist that, by whatever means are necessary (Mia Mottley used a military aircraft to fly in the Caricom team), the international observers must come back for the recount. They can be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival to ensure they are healthy. They can be provided masks to protect themselves from us and us from them. But they must be here to oversee, supervise, participate, and report back to their own governments.

Gecom’s officers are not to be trusted to conduct a recount fairly and impartially, not on this third attempt. There must be international scrutiny. Otherwise, there will be another barefaced rig. Gecom and its officials are waiting for their chance.

Yours faithfully,

Timothy Jonas

A New and United Guyana