General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday called on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to request the return of international observers for the ongoing recount of votes from the March 2 polls, while saying that the three-member CARICOM team that has been observing the process is not enough.
“We are very, very, happy that the CARICOM team came back even after the way they were treated at the beginning by APNU [A Partnership for National Unity]. They were forced out of the country when they had five persons… to supervise the recount. They came back here and we are very, very, happy they’re back but it’s not the same team and now there are three persons from CARICOM here and there are 10 works stations with the possibility of increasing those to 16…. We are happy they are here and we want to thank CARICOM for sending them but they are not adequate,” Jagdeo said during a PPP online briefing, while noting that the team that was sent to supervise the recount has been downgraded by GECOM to an observer mission.
He went to say that that although President David Granger said that he will not be getting involved in the election process, he has gotten directly involved when he did not approve the return of Carter Center observers despite the fact that several United States senators and congressmen have written to him asking for additional observes be permitted.
Jagdeo added that many observers were accredited to observe the March 2 elections and those accreditations have not expired since elections have not been completed as there was no official declaration of the winning party.
Further, Jagdeo stressed that he was in disbelief when he learnt that the President did not approve the return of Carter Center observers, saying that the four persons who were willing to return to observe the recount process could have returned on the same basis as the CARICOM team, who got tested for COVID-19 when they entered the country.
Government has all but shut the door on a return by the Carter Center, with Foreign Affairs Minister Karen Cummings in a letter to the US Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch citing CARICOM’s ongoing role in the process and the closure of the airports due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reasons for its posture. In a letter to the US Ambassador, which was released to the public on Friday, Cummings highlighted the argument that CARICOM remains “the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation” and added that Guyana is “confident in the legitimacy, credibility, and competence of the CARICOM Team to perform its task.”
Jagdeo said yesterday that everyone can see that the government simply doesn’t want the Carter Center in Guyana. He cited Cummings’ letter to the US Senators and said they were asked to respect the government’s decision that was made in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic although the administration is still approving hundreds of persons coming into the country to work for the various oil companies. “He is not concerned about their coming to Guyana in the middle of this pandemic but he is concerned about four observers coming in from the international observer group. So Granger is saying that he prefers this set of people to come in and can’t allow others to come but this country doesn’t run on the basis of Granger’s preferences. It runs by the laws of Guyana. These people were duly accredited. They have a right to be here not based on Granger’s preference. In spite of the fact he said he is not getting involved in the elections processes, he has gotten directly involved now by rejecting the international observers on the basis of his preferences,” Jagdeo stated.
Additionally, he said, if President Granger wants to enhance the transparency of the recount process, there should be as many observers in Guyana as possible.
Jagdeo urged that GECOM call for the return of the international observers, while noting that the body had re-invited them a few weeks ago and that it must insist that the Task Force not stop them from coming in.
