Lawyer submits petition for US to sanction Granger; GECOM, other officials

A lawyer has submitted a petition to the US Embassy in Georgetown calling for the State Department in Washington to slap personal sanctions on President David Granger and senior officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

On Monday, attorney-at-law Randy Depoo, disclosed that in addition to submitting the 6,500-plus online signatures petition to the Embassy, arrangements are also in place to have copies hand delivered to the State Department in Washington.

Depoo, a Guyanese who served as a US Consul Officer in Trinidad before coming back to live in Guyana this year, disclosed that the initiative for the petition came about as there were a growing number of persons frustrated over the March 2 elections.

Seven weeks has passed since the elections with results mired in controversy and court cases.
A recount is scheduled to start this week and would come as the country remains in lockdown over COVID-19.
Depoo, during an interview on Kaieteur Radio yesterday said that the “illegal” Coalition was collaborating with “cohorts” in GECOM to frustrate the elections results.

He pointed out that senior US officials, including Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and his deputy, Michael Kozak, have been expressing concerns about the process and the need for credibility.
The lawyer said that within the first eight hours of the petition last week, 1,500 persons signed it.
As of Monday, this increased to 6,500 persons signing the petition online.

The petition was handed over to the US Embassy with the request it be forwarded to Secretary Pompeo.
More than half of the persons who signed are living in Guyana with the rest coming from Trinidad, US, Canada, United Kingdom and Caribbean, Norway, Sri Lanka, among other countries.

Depoo dismissed questions that the petition would be counter-productive in light of the imminent recount.
He said that after March 2, all parties had copies of the Statement of Polls, which any school child could tally up.
Then there was the many twists involving Clairmont Mingo, the Returning Officer of Region Four who because sick and then miraculously recovered and presented a questionable spreadsheet of tabulations.
The lawyer insisted that the spreadsheet was more a cheat-sheet and that the attempt to steal the elections was “amateurish”.

Among the name listed in the petition for personal sanctions are President David Granger; Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo; former Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon; Attorney-General, Basil Williams; Health Minister, Volda Lawrence; Social Protection Minister, Amna Ally; Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan; businessman Brian Tiwarie; Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo and Chair of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.
According to Depoo, sanctions could include visa revocation for the persons and their immediate family members; and freezing of bank accounts and properties in the US.

The lawyer said it is a mild approach to send the message home with the criticisms widespread; there is not a single voice lending support.
He said that the narrative of the PPP/C losing the elections and trying to frustrate the electoral process was not even laughable and is even dangerous.