International community has to save Guyana

Dear Editor,
It pains me immensely to see more pieces of evidence unfolding in full view of the world that I have been accurate when I wrote in several of my missives to the press that GECOM is compromised and will not be capable to deliver a free, fair and credible 2020 Elections. I also wrote about a brewing dictatorship in Guyana which is at the precipice of being manifested fully.

In one of my letters, I asked the question: Who is in charge of GECOM? I then went on to provide tangible evidence to support my conclusion that the CEO is in charge and not the Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh. I further wrote that, “What is Chairperson Claudette Singh doing? Is she incompetent? Or is she giving Lowenfield a free rein to do the PNC’s biddings? I simply cannot comprehend that until now she is unable to come to grips with the basics at GECOM despite holding umpteen meetings and being apprised of all the issues. She is not a novice in election matters if I could recall.” These statements were written weeks before the elections and are now valid than ever before!

In another of my letters, I wrote that “We are getting closer to the long overdue General and Regional Elections on March 2nd, the electorate are still understandably worried about GECOM’s seemingly inability at act in a fair and impartial manner since the successful passing of the No-Confidence Motion.” Again this has come to pass since GECOM’s inability to deliver a credible election is evidenced by the fact that the electoral process in the verification of the Region Four votes has been hijacked by no other than the Returning Officer, a GECOM appointee and collaborated by the CEO, the Chairperson and others. At that time I further wrote that “It is time that the GECOM’s Chairperson step up and deliver on her ‘pledge’ to ensure credible elections. At this current state, we can only guess what will happen on March 2nd and after the results have been declared.” I did not fathom that the rigging would actually take place after the voting has been concluded and that the rigging would occur in plain sight in full view of Guyanese, the observers and the entire world.

The PNC has taken rigging to new heights that would make Burnham an altar boy in comparison. Burnham used several techniques which included, tampering with the voters’ list, stealing the ballot boxes by the army, throwing some away and tampering with the rest but Granger has hijacked the Statements of Poll and replaced them with a magical spreadsheet which defies the SoPs held by the other political parties. This is ‘rigging made simple’! I am sure that Granger can now author a best seller with that nomenclature.

What is alarming and exposes the PNC’s innate propensity for dictatorial rule is the fact that they had openly flouted our Constitution and the CCJ’s rulings and consequential orders and now they have done a similar act with the Representation of the People’s Act and the Chief Justice’s rulings and consequential orders. This is the hallmark of a dictatorship! This is not about GECOM as Granger would like the people of Guyana and the international community to believe. The election is not completed until the results are declared! Moreover, the pieces of evidence show that GECOM is controlled by the PNC!

But GECOM’s Chairperson, being a retired Judge must know that to disregard the CJ’s orders is tantamount to contempt of court. Furthermore, there is no ambiguity in the Chief Justice’s order: votes must be added in accordance with the SoPs, and then a public declaration is made. She further added that Section 84 (1) is mandatory because of the need for greater transparency in the actions of public officials. I wish to remind her that she had vowed that she will not sell herself for “all the oil in Guyana” and that, “there is only one way, in accordance with the law and in accordance with the Constitution, and nothing else”. It is sad to conclude that over the past months and especially since March 2nd, her pledge now seems weak, hollow and lacks any real substance.

Will our country see another era of PNC dictatorship? At this juncture, only the international community has to save Guyana!

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf