I will apologise to the Coalition if…

Dear Editor,

My many years as a Bridge player has thought me to connect the dots and follow the line of logic.
Every fibre in my being tells me that the stopping of the count on Tuesday, March 3 and these continuous stalls since then has only one direction- that the charade of establishing a recount at the Arthur Chung Center is another one.
These are in the long line of complicity, between the Coalition, the public services, the GECOM Chair and team.
This is done to delay the recounting of the votes long enough to swear President David Granger in on the false declaration.

I base this on all the circumstances which have led up to this, and it is my belief that the appointment of the Director General, Joseph Harmon, in charge of the COVID -19 response is a foreshadow for a planned acceleration and declaration of COVID-19 cases, along with the Constitutional crisis which has another week expiration date.

This goes hand-in-hand with the need for Parliament to reconvene to deal with emergency funding for “Governance”. This will be used as the excuses to make the swearing in materialize, and at that time, it will be the continued claim that everything is being done under the “Constitution’’ and the discrepancies of the false and illegal declaration will be asked to be dealt with by the PPP/C by means of an Election Petition.

Please believe me that there is no credible observer, both locally and internationally, who will buy this.
If this does not happen, and the count is done and credible results declared, then I will publicly make my apologies to the Coalition.

In fact, I would be the happiest of men to tell the world publicly how wrong I am.
My friend, Imran Khan, the former public information officer, can refute me now and tell me I am wrong.
I want the Coalition to consider the impact, which an illegal unrecognized Government will have on all Guyanese- not only the ones here but away.

We started this year with bright sunlight engulfing the nation, the hopes and dreams for myself and many of my generation of finally seeing the long-awaited promise of our potential and planned development of our country, where the wealth accrued will be shared with all its citizens and act as an enticement for the return of the over one million Guyanese and descendants overseas, many who have never even visited here.
It would have happened with us making plans to share in this new bright future of ours, and for our beloved country’s turn to finally shine and change polarity, from one of the poorest, to a wealthy nation.

For myself, I was willing to give it a few more years before my retirement. Like many Guyanese, I have worked my life to be able to retire and enjoy the fruits of my labour.
All this now stands to disappear before our eyes.
Instead of prosperity, we are now faced with an illegally, unrecognized caretaker Government.

We will be ostracized by the international community; sanctions will be placed on us, and we will in one fell swoop return to the days of shortages and be in a worst position than our neighbours in Venezuela.
Persons like myself, with capacity and something to offer to the development of this country, will vote once again with our feet, and we will restart a cycle that we should have left behind with the re-establishment of democracy by the Carter Center in 1992.

All the gains, and credibility, which we have earned in our young democracy will have gone, vanished overnight.
I understand the concerns of the Coalition over the excesses of the last Government, and I feel the pain.
I was with the Coalition on the long road and the flourishing functioning of our democracy to have them installed as Government.

I have many who I called friends within the Cabinet.
However, they will have a chance again in another five years, where I guarantee that there will be many talking points and with the right approach, they will have a chance again for a return to Government even with the possibility of Constitutional reforms.

In the meanwhile, I urge the Coalition to allow the recount and validation of the results; for them to take their place whatever they be in Parliament; let their voices be heard there in a democratic manner and play by the rules provided under our Constitution.

In closing, I plead with the Coalition to have empathy for all Guyanese, as this road which they have embarked on is fraught with danger and uncertainty.
Believe me, no good can come of this. The people, who they are supposed to be representing will suffer the blunt of the actions which will be initiated with a false declaration.

The dreams and aspirations of all our people rest in their hands to do the right thing and there is the distinct possibility that their plans will be short lived and it will not end nicely.
Heed the warnings, which are being sounded by the international community.

Roy Beepat