Foreign observers do not know the “tricks of the trade” – Hamilton Green

Dear Editor,
Mr Hamilton Green, one-time PNC strongman, wrote recently in the press of the need for our political leaders to “mend not rend”. As he waxed on this theme, Mr Green noted that as a people, “we need to have the good sense to learn from the horrors of earlier experiences.” However, the horrors he cited were very selectively cherry-picked to further the PNC’s narrative and silence other experiences. I do not believe it is helpful to cite these now because it is clear from the elections results, which Granger’s PNC is hell-bent on subverting, that a significant section of the Guyanese populace has moved on.

The truth is that in the ’60s, our country was in an unsettled state and racial animosity amongst our people was rife. Many studies have been done to examine those circumstances. The reasons and the key players in the events of that period are well documented and known. However, as Mr Green expounded on his “mend not rend” theme, he made a quantum leap and shifted his focus to the International Observers for the 2020 elections who are here in Guyana. To be fair to Mr Green, his resentment and/or objection to International Observers in our “ongoing 2-week old elections” is a matter of public record. He offered his justification for his objection to their presence in Guyana thus: “ these outsiders or observers or what have you, can do little to be a real bridge over troubled water, because they do not know all our history. I notice the battalion of observers, some who don’t understand our culture and the tricks of the trade, feel duty-bound to speak.”

Well, I think not only the foreign observers but all right-thinking people know and understand that our waters are troubled, because there are local forces who do not want an honest, verified and accurate tally of the votes for District Four, in the March 2, elections. They know that Guyana’s waters are troubled, because one man, with statutory responsibility, which he is expected to exercise honestly and fairly, has defied the orders of the Chief Justice and has purported to execute his functions in a shockingly unacceptable manner, devoid of fairness, honesty and transparency in the face of his principals, who seem to have been struck dumb. One need only to read the Commonwealth Observers report. And that leads me to wonder, what “tricks of the trade” Hammie believes the foreign observers do not know? Is it the falsification of electoral results on a spreadsheet so as to favour APNU/AFC?

Is it to do everything possible to avoid the production of Statements of Poll in the election results verification? Is it the various clumsy and bungled efforts to rig and cheat at these elections? I believe “these outsiders or observers” as Hammie describes them, are on top of the game, they know about “the tricks of the trade”. They continue to document them. Were it not for the foreign observers and the wider international community, the APNU/AFC would have already defied the will of the majority of the people of Guyana and would have fraudulently imposed themselves on the people of Guyana.

This, however, is 2020. We shall see what we shall see.

Sincerely,
Selwyn Persaud