Dear Editor,
And so it begins, the old political games of the past have once again reared their ugly head. Violence and intimidation that we expected to be confined to the dustbin of history are now, once again, part of our democracy.
This past week, reports of GECOM officials being attacked and harassed during their work in house-to-house registration has shocked the nation. There’s even been instances of dogs being set upon these poor souls.
What has driven these ordinary folks to display such levels of aggression towards those who want to ensure that they have their democratic right to vote? Well it is the misrepresentation of this process by the PPP, who claim that it is “illegal” and part of some broader conspiracy of electoral fraud. They are inciting fear and mistrust among the public, making them believe that this process is somehow to their detriment.
The ongoing registration exercise has been a normal part of the democratic process. It is to ensure that those who have turned 18 since the last election are able to exercise their right to vote, and those who are not eligible, including individuals who have sadly passed away or who have emigrated, are not on the electoral roll.
The PPP wants to partake in an election with a list that is not sanitized. This exposes our elections to potentially massive voter fraud.
At all costs, the process must move forward with a list that is both clean and credible. The worrying attempts by Irfaan Ali and his PPP party to shut down the only route to a trustworthy election should raise concerns with the public, businesses and international observers.
Their willingness to sow division and mistrust along racial lines is a cynical tactic that they’ve used before. They present a position of us versus them, a government for Indo-Guyanese versus a government for Afro-Guyanese (as though it is not possible for a government to be for all Guyanese), playing on the darkest emotions of fear and mistrust.
The previous PPP government used this tactic repeatedly to help benefit themselves and their cronies. Playing on racial division to distract the electorate from the real issues at hand.
The absence of a sanitised list would mean a return to cronyism, deceitful tactics, and back-handers that defrauded the public and the country of funds and value for more than two decades. This would not only undermine the long-term business and investment case for Guyana, but makes any argument for the creation of jobs nothing more than rhetoric.
Never before have the risks been so high, particularly as we move forward to first oil production in Guyana. Never before has the requirement for a credible election been so pressing.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ainsworth
