Ramjattan privately concedes loss in meeting with unit heads

De facto Minister of Public Security and Prime Ministerial hopeful, Khemraj Ramjattan, conceded the loss of the March 2020 elections during a private meeting with his ministry unit heads Thursday morning, even as he yesterday continued to carry the official coalition line that the elections lacked credibility.

“From all indications the PPP/C has beaten us by some 15,000 votes,”
Ramjattan told his key personnel, “The loss of an election is tremendous. It is a difficult time for me, it’s kinda emotional. But at some point in time you have to make a departure because there’s always gonna be a winner and a loser.”
This is from a recording Kaieteur News has been provided, one in which the AFC executive said that he anticipates a declaration from the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh this weekend, at which point his portfolio will come to an “abrupt end”.
“The declaration numbers are against us… We went into the recount and we lost, so be prepared to accept and to move on,” Ramjattan said, who was at the time bidding farewell to his Heads of the Units under the Public Security Ministry at a meeting this week.
Nonetheless, Ramjattan highlighted that while the loss of an election is a “tremendous” one it is not a “death penalty” as he hopes that his supporters are not overcome with too much disappointment, and alluded to the “serious statements” from the international bodies and the grave implications that could pose on the country.

“The process will go on to the fourth and final stage where the Chair will hammer out the process towards the final declarations. There are certain credibility issues but that would just complicate the Chair. So, that means then that it is the end of the government and it is with this that l wanted to tell you that it was an honour and pleasure being with you as the various Heads of Unit under the Ministry of Public Security,” Ramjattan said to his staff.

He admitted that the last five years as the Minister of Public Security were “extraordinary” and one of his “better experiences” as he hopes for a “soft landing” after a declaration has been made.
He further noted the building tension in Guyana and hopes not to witness any “lawlessness” as the process progresses.

“I do not want to see any lawlessness. I will not be a part of any lawlessness. Leh we go to the court; leh we talk it out in dialogue. That is my important message to you. The endgame must not involve violence,” he appealed.
In attendance at the meeting were Ormella Gladstone, Treaty; MaryAdams, PR Officer; Clement Henry, Head of the Citizens’ Security Strengthening Programme; Orin Boston, Head of Juvenile Justice; Yvetteron Sancho, Head of the Juvenile Holding Centre; and Delon France, Director of the Guyana Forensic Lab.
Also at the meeting were ministry employees and fellow Alliance For Change executives, Leonard Craig and Sherod Duncan, the Ministry’s National Community Policing Administrator.

Notably, while Ramjattan was conceding his party’s loss to his staffers at that meeting, he yesterday even went as a guest on an APNU+AFF online yesterday with Duncan, where he claimed that the March 2 elections were not free, fair or credible, and it is impossible that the APNU+AFC lost the elections.

Ramjattan claimed during that interview that “When the recount started, a humungous amount of irregularities and a number of violations of the provisions were found. The CEO in charge of the process administratively, had to do summaries for each one of these regions. It is painted all over these regional summaries as what I regard as elections that could not be regarded as credible. It must have that general quality before one says that it is free and fair.”
He compared the “invalid” votes to that fruits of a poisoned tree and “if these votes are poisoned by the root then you are going to have fruits that are poisoned”.

He expressed his contentment over the motion being sought to halt Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield from submitting his report to the GECOM Chair, as he added that the ruling of that case will make it definitive as to whether the elections were indeed credible.