Sir Shridath Ramphal reminds Granger of Caricom’s legitimacy

Sir Shridath Ramphal has reminded President Granger about how he emphatically regarded CARICOM as “the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation”, following the pronouncement of its Recount Scrutineer Team that Guyana’s elections were credible.

“As long ago as 2001, CARICOM Heads of Government (including Guyana’s) have stressed that the Region had a long-standing tradition of respect for the will of the people expressed through free and fair elections on a regular basis and pledged to work together to maintain and strengthen the institution and processes essential to democratic Government,” Sir Ramphal said.

The CARICOM report had stated that the elections were credible, and that the results of the recount are “completely acceptable”. But Government nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander argued against the findings of the CARICOM team.

The team members had written in their report that the coalition provided “absolutely no evidence” to support the many claims of electoral fraud. In response, Alexander said that they were not privy to the information he was privy to about ‘dead and migrant voters’. He also argued that the recount the team observed was sufficient to reflect the will of the people, but insinuated that the team’s report may not have been sufficient as the three had not observed the recount of all 2,339 ballot boxes.

Alexander instead pointed to the report of the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, who said that the elections could not be ascertained to be fair and credible for any of the 10 electoral districts.
Yet, President Granger had touted CARICOM as “the most legitimate interlocutor” as pointed out by Ramphal, after a visit to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on June 7.

“I am very confident in CARICOM’s ability and integrity,” the President had said, “CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation.”
He had added “The CARICOM team is competent and I am very confident that the work that they will do is up to international standards. And I don’t disparage the CARICOM team. I’m not dismissive of their efforts. I went to a lot of trouble. I hosted the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad. And I would like to see that mission succeed.”

Then, in an interview on June 14 at State House, the President told a select group of journalists that CARICOM’s presence and role in the recount cannot be construed as interference, as its role is embedded in law (the gazetted order for the recount). Speaking of the weight that should be given to the CARICOM report, Granger said “it must be considered.”

Sir Ramphal also reminded that he had pleaded with Guyana not to “descend into the pit of lawlessness”; adding that the outcome of Guyana’s March 2 polls, “must be an example – not only in Guyana but regionally and worldwide – of the strength of law and democracy.”