Sanctions a must against these actors

Dear Editor,

The Chairman of CARICOM, Mia Mottley, stated that, “it is clear there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted” after the CARICOM electoral rescue mission collapsed in March.
As the days wear on, those shadowy ‘forces’ are being exposed by their actions.

Three of those actors stepped onto the stage to vociferously oppose a call from the Private Sector Commission to count the Region Four ballots- Cathy Hughes, Joseph Harmon, and Raphael Trotman held a press conference to denounce the call by the PSC as “simplistic”.

The fact is that the call is indeed simplistic because the solution to the electoral fraud committed is indeed simple- recount Region Four and provide a credible result based on a free, fair and transparent process.
The motivations of this trio to make a mountain out of a molehill on the other hand bear closer examination.

Firstly, the Statements of Polls (SOPs) of nine of Guyana’s 10 regions were tabulated without undue incident in a free, fair, transparent manner and produced results deemed credible by all observer missions.
To ask for these to be redone is akin to driving an ambulance to pick up a patient in critical condition, getting a puncture and instead of changing the one flat tire, you decide to change all the tires. It defies logic and circumstance.

Secondly, we must recognize that the entire world economy is reeling from the effects of a pandemic such as not experienced in over a century.
Guyana is the only country on earth without a recognized government during this crisis.
Guyana cannot access the help needed for her citizens by way of aid funding, vital health equipment purchasing (ventilators, etc.), the all-important Personal Protection Equipment needed for health-care providers and persons providing essential services.

While other nations can tap into these resources and provide vital relief for their citizens including cash-grants for the needy, Guyana’s government is in a state of paralysis caused by those conspiring to keep power through electoral fraud and other means.
There has been a change of circumstance from when the whims of David Granger and his cohorts could be indulged as after the no-confidence motion and even the immediate aftermath of those fraudulent declarations (plural).

In the face of these arguments, can the three APNU/AFC representatives provide reasons for further delays?
Cathy Hughes continues to confuse herself with tales of ‘Russian’ hackers.

Similarly her spouse, attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes posited a missive entitled ‘sharing the corn in 2020’ which argued that the APNU/AFC lost the elections due to racial voting patterns and as such there should be a new paradigm other than democracy going forward.

Hughes leaves the question of how that same entity won democratically in 2015 unanswered as he seeks to justify the murderous, racially motivated massacres and other atrocities by criminal gangs in that past “in the absence of legitimate means of redress, economic marginalization, ethnic domination, the African community began to react in a manner which they thought would best protect their interests”.

Companies seeking to invest in Guyana are cognizant of Nigel’s marital relationship to a sitting Minister of Government.
Magnitsky sanctions must apply to those deemed by the United States “seeking to benefit from electoral fraud” and in that way, the state of Guyana and her citizens can be spared from harm.
Sanctions against Joseph Harmon and Raphael Trotman will hit the former Ministers with extensive international investments where it hurts.

In light of the blind and unyielding fight against democracy and the will of the people, it certainly bears a full investigation, for what other motivation can drive men to abandon the greatest principle of human rights?

All of these actions and possible motivations bring the trio under the ambit of audit and forfeiture of assets under the Global Magnitsky Act. These sanctions should be brought to bear against these individuals and their beneficiaries without delay.

Guyana is being suffocated by these bad actors and much like COVID-19 victims, Guyanese are finding it harder and harder to breathe freely.

Sanctions will also serve as a warning to other anti-democratic actors in Guyana and around the world that a new order has come and their time is up.

Robin Singh