The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) has declared itself undeterred by threats of international sanctions and committed to a resolution of the current elections crisis via a verified recount of all electoral districts as legally permitted under the Constitution, under the supervision of CARICOM in chronological order from one to ten.
In a statement issued yesterday the association expressed the view that no one should be elated about sanctions or the threat of sanctions being imposed on Guyana since all investments in Guyana will be at risk and those with the greatest amounts of investment are likely to lose the most.
They also reiterated a call for all Guyanese to remain calm and not allow political leaders, activists or detractors to divert our attention from maintaining a unified stance against disruptive behaviour in the common interest of all Guyanese and expressed respect for citizens’ rights to seek redress in the courts of law on any related electoral issue;
“ACDA expects the African community and our political leadership to accept the results of a recount and will call on them to do so if necessary,” the statement stressed adding that in keeping with its historical position since 1998, ACDA demands that whichever party wins forms a government of national unity for an agreed period with a clear mandate to complete constitutional reform for shared governance.
This reform, they state should be embraced with a view to enabling the country to achieve social cohesion and ending the “winner take all” governance system.
The association’s position for the most part aligns with that of the international community and the opposition political parties.
The CARICOM-facilitated recount was announced on Saturday by CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, who said it that President David Granger had made a request for CARICOM to field such a team to supervise the recounting of the ballots in all Region 4. It was later clarified that this recount was to cover all regions. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had agreed to this move, which followed a contentious vote count for Region Four that resulted in allegations of fraud.
Three days later the mission collapsed dramatically after legal action against it. For those three days no work was done as members of the commission argued about which region to start with and GECOM secretariat appeared to drag its feet on preparatory measures.
The nail in the coffin however came when an election candidate for the governing APNU+AFC secured an injunction from the court of Justice Franklyn Holder against the recount.
The case will be heard this morning at 9 am.
