Dear Editor,
Wikipedia notes that Mr Hamilton Green “was a member of People’s National Congress and chosen as one of the five Vice Presidents in the cabinet of Forbes Burnham in October 1980. He also served as the Prime Minister of Guyana from 6 August 1985 to 9 October 1992”.
In his letter captioned `I advised President Hoyte to abort the 1992 vote as the lists were clearly flawed but he refused to, I did not want to cause mayhem’ (Stabroek News, March 27, 2019), Mr Green states “Mr. Sharma clearly is the victim of propaganda generated in the early 90s. First, he is quite inaccurate when he accuses me of leading street protests that led Jimmy Carter to fear for his life. I don’t know whether Mr. Carter expressed such fears to him or is he making an assumption – but that’s another matter.” Mr Green’s letter was in response to a letter from P.D. Sharma.
I hold no brief for Mr Sharma. I believe he is quite capable of defending his position. However, one way or another post CCJ appeals of the No Confidence Vote, it is likely that Guyana will be holding general elections within the next twelve to eighteen months. Many of the voters will be individuals who were born after 1992 or too young in 1992 to know what transpired. Consequently, I believe these young people should get the independent view of what transpired.
In 2007, President Carter wrote a book titled “Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope”. An excerpt relating to Guyana’s 1992 elections can be found at https://www.cartercenter.org/news/…/p/…/remembering-guyanna-1992-elections.html
Following are extracts:
“The most personal danger I have felt since leaving the White House was in Guyana in 1992. This small nation on the northern coast of South America was then and still is the most completely divided that I know…The Indo-Guyanese hold a slight majority, but the Afro-Guyanese and their People’s National Congress (PNC) party were able to control the government from the time of national independence in 1966, assisted by the government of Great Britain and the CIA, both of which considered Cheddi Jagan, leader of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), to be a Marxist.
“In 1990, Mr. Jagan came to The Carter Center, claimed that previous elections had been fraudulent, and asked us to help ensure that the next one would be honest and fair. We agreed, provided the ruling party would also accept our presence as observers. For several months, President Desmond Hoyte objected strongly, but public opinion became so greatly aroused that he finally agreed, just one month before the election was scheduled.”
On the day of the elections, after returning to the airport from the riverain area along the Venezuelan border “our small plane was surrounded by members of the security forces, who informed me that riots had broken out all over Georgetown, and that I must go to the U.S. Embassy, where I would be safe. Instead, I went to my hotel room and called President Hoyte, who assured me that the police were in charge and order would soon be restored. Bob Pastor (Carter’s staff) informed me that the PNC were obviously losing the election, and that some of their supporters had been induced to disrupt the process. I decided that the election should continue if possible and sent word to our observers to monitor events and, after the polls closed, to go to their assigned places to gather quick count results. Our senior observer, Jennifer McCoy, told me that the election center had come under attack by an angry mob, some of whom claimed to have been denied a ballot. She had visited the building and tried to work out a solution with the PNC party chief, but the riot continued.
“… When I arrived (at the election headquarters), accompanied by three Secret Service agents, the building was surrounded by several hundred rioters, who had already broken all the windows with clubs and stones. There was only one Guyanese police officer present, a woman wearing a uniform but without sidearms.
“We went upstairs and found that all the computers had been transferred to one of the more isolated hotels for safekeeping. I phoned the hotel manager, who told me that the computers could not be operated there unless ‘a battalion of troops is sent to protect us against the mobs trying to stop the vote count.’ I called the president again. I told him that I was in the unprotected building and that there was no way to complete the election unless the workers could return with their computers. Also, I told him that our Secret Service would contact the White House if I didn’t receive immediate protection from the mob outside.
“Calm was restored after another hour, and the computers were tabulating returns by midnight. Our quick count showed that the ruling party would lose by about 14 percent, and early the next morning I went to visit both presidential candidates. They agreed to refrain from any public statements and to accept the final results, which were announced three days later. Cheddi Jagan was sworn in as president after what was considered to be the country’s first free and fair election since independence…”
A further report worth noting is that of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) which “played a significant role in the development of the Guyanese electoral process and the preparations for the October 5, 1992 national elections in Guyana” This report can be found at https://www.ifes.org/publications/final-report-guyana-election-assistance-project-october-1990-november-1992
This report concludes “Election Day did not pass without a significant challenge to the electoral process. A violent crowd gathered outside the Elections Commission building and attacked it with stones and bottles, causing a temporary evacuation of international consultants and non-essential local staff. There were also reports of violence and looting in other locations around Georgetown and the country. Despite these attacks, the process moved forward to a highly successful and internationally credible conclusion. Both the Carter Center and the Commonwealth Secretariat international observer teams were able to certify the elections as ‘free and fair’ due to the dedication and hard work of all those involved in the process.”
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
