Opposition parties yesterday sharply criticised GECOM Chair Claudette Singh for writing the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) on May 22nd on allegations made by APNU+AFC about illicit voting at the March 2nd general elections, a task they said was beyond her remit and full with sinister implications.
Singh had not revealed publicly her letter to the CIO, Leslie James who is also the Commissioner of Police but the correspondence had been first spoken of by government-appointed GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander last week and was circulated yesterday.
James has apparently provided Singh with a list of people who were out of the country on March 2nd but analysts say that the list in itself is not proof of anything untoward as those allegations have to be fully tested and this would usually be done in the ambit of an election petition.
The opposition parties believe that the recent developments suggest that the incumbent APNU+AFC is looking for a way to nullify the ongoing recount and discredit the March 2nd General and Regional Elections and GECOM’s Chair is falling prey to the scheme.
In a letter to the Police Commissioner, dated May 22nd 2019, Singh wrote: “The APNU/AFC is alleging that persons whose names and dates of birth appear on the list attached had migrated and could not have exercised their franchise on March 2, 2020. In this regard I shall be grateful if you will be so kind as to cause the Immigration Department to verify whether these persons were out of the country on March 2, 2020. The respective polling divisions and stations where these persons allegedly voted are also identified on the list.”
Further, it adds, “The Commission would wish this matter to be urgently addressed.”
The Police Commission-er responded to Singh on May 27th and furnished her with a list of 172 persons, their dates of birth, and travel records. “I refer to your letter dated May 22nd 2020 and forward herewith a report from the Deputy Chief Immigration Officer for your information,” the letter states.
Observers note that the CIO is under no obligation to provide private immigration records to Singh. Moreover, it is being alleged that the immigration department was the original source of the information which APNU+AFC forwarded to Singh for investigation,
GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward told this newspaper, when contacted yesterday, that all of the commissioners were aware that a letter would have been sent to the Commissioner of Police for the information but could not say if they had agreed. “The commissioners were aware that a letter would have been sent. I will have to check in on whether it was a decision of the Commission,” she said.
Alexander said yesterday that Singh had told the Commission when she wrote the Commissioner and that he saw nothing wrong with her actions.
Questioned on if there were objections from the opposition-nominated commissioners, he said “yes I think there were negative comments” but did not detail what they were.
‘Nefarious political agenda’
The People’s Progressive Party yesterday issued a statement arguing that it was a political party and not government that received sensitive information on the immigration matters of citizens. It denounced the claims that persons overseas had been voted for on March 2nd.
“We wish to highlight that a political party APNU+AFC, not the Government, was provided by the (Immigration Department) with the immigration records of citizens without their consent, which APNU+AFC is using for it nefarious political agenda. The matter is compounded by the Com-missioner of Police purporting to verify the very information that … his servants/agents supplied to that political party,” the PPP/C statement said.
“It is already on the public record that APNU+AFC is concocting these allegations. One would recall a couple in Berbice who are in Guyana and voted for APNU+AFC but APNU+AFC claimed that those persons were overseas on Elections Day. This issue was fully ventilated in the Kaieteur News. We have also found hundreds of persons who were in Guyana on March 2, and voted, yet APNU+AFC claimed that they were out of the jurisdiction on Election Day. Certainly if the information provided by the Commissioner of Police/his servants and or agents are false, such misrepresentation will not be without consequences at the appropriate time,” it added.
The party highlighted that there is no way of connecting any of the persons who APNU+AFC claimed were abroad with the ballots cast on March 2, “so it is all a wild fishing expedition to delay the declaration of the results.”
“It will be recalled that in a sample of 87 ballot boxes on the East Bank Demerara, (District Four Returning Officer Clairmont) Mingo fraudulently gifted to APNU+AFC over 5000 votes. In order to detract from Mingo’s fraud and in their frantic effort to prevent the declaration of the final results of the recount, the likes of Joseph Harmon will manufacture more ridiculous allegations, such as that 96,000 ballots cast are invalid,” the statement said.
And of the Chairperson’s actions in seeking information on complaints from political parties before the recount and declaration process is over, the PPP/C said that neither Singh nor the Commission is within legal right to do so.
“We continue to maintain that GECOM has no jurisdiction to hear and determine these matters which can only be addressed by the High Court in an election petition,” the PPP/C said as it stressed that it is “not afraid of any investigation or inquiry of any type and is ready to participate in any such activity at the appropriate time and at the right forum.”
The PPP/C will be seeking an audience with Singh for clarification on the issue.
‘Outside of ambit’
Similar postures on the legality of the Chairperson’s actions came from A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and Change Guyana.
ANUG had on Saturday written Singh, cautioning her on such a decision as it was outside of her powers and the Commission’s ambit. Singh by then had already written the Police Commissioner
“If the GECOM Secretariat is acting on its own initiative to conduct a trial and receive evidence from a third party, an immigration department, and moreso without the knowledge and instructions of GECOM this is alarming,” the letter stated.
Further, it added, “ANUG goes further to point out that the conduct of a trial to receive evidence from external sources to ascertain the truth of the APNU claims that GECOM’s records of what transpired on election day and who voted on that day is beyond the ambit of GECOM’s function, even if the secretariat has not unlawfully gone on its own frolic but was acting with GECOM’s instruction. Such instructions will be unlawful.”
ANUG Executive, Kian Jabour, in whose name the ANUG letter was signed, echoed similar sentiments to this newspaper yesterday as he cautioned the Chairperson on breaching the law.
“She has put herself in dangerous territory. She has entered a legal realm where she is attempting to verify these allegations and the problem with that is she is not authorized to do so. Her role does not give the capacity to do that, as a chairman of the commission. In order for someone to hold that proof or credible evidence, it would need to be pronounced upon by a sitting judge in a court of law. Our problem is with her accepting that information and requesting follow up on it. She now has left herself in a compromising position to have her decision influenced by that information,” Jabour said.
“As long as it did not go through a court of law, she is using unverified information in order to influence her decision. She has left herself in having her decision made under questionable circumstances. This is a numerical recount and falls into only that category. The government is throwing around this word credible very often, and the only way to decide if it is, is to go to court and have all the applications going through a legal process. No proceedings can happen until a declaration. That process has not come as yet,” he added.
He said that many persons are confused with hearing that Singh will receive a summary of observations and think that she has to also investigate. “It is an observation report and she can accept any allegation but the reality it is not in her scope of responsibilities for her to be investigating,” he said.
“A summary of the observations and the results of the tabulation need to be presented to the commission by Chief Election Officer [CEO Keith] Lowenfield. We need to be careful in [the use of] the word summary. What people are taking into context is if he can pronounce on the credibility of the elections but that doesn’t fall within his ambit of responsibility either. He cannot. He has to take information and condense it. He is not to determine what is credible. We are not supposed to be investigating allegations here. Everything follows a sequential order and has a process. You cannot do that. A declaration has to be made before a trial,” he added.
‘Worry’
Jabour said that Singh’s actions undermine her apolitical role.
“So now we are worried and the worry comes in that they have started this investigation seemingly with ulterior motives of hindering the process. We are of the opinion that GECOM, through its actions, are compromised. And their actions up to this point, seems to show that there is an attempt to begin an investigation or ask the CEO to look into these accusations,” he posited.
“The Chair has to remember that she is in a position, which by nature must be unbiased. Her position and decisions are to uphold democracy and freedom in the country and to represent all Guyanese and the will of the people. So by her accepting this and investigating these allegations, she is now opening up herself to very, very dangerous territory; leaving herself and her decision to be questioned. If a decision is made using the information she has received, it would mean that she was influenced by the information”, he added.
Presidential Candidate of the Liberty and Justice Party, Lenox Shuman informed that his party was also concerned at Singh’s actions.
“We are very concerned that Madam Chair is going down a very slippery slope,” he said.
Shuman reasoned that there was overwhelming evidence that showed that controversial Region 4 Returning Officer Mingo fudged numbers for the APNU+AFC and made a false declaration but yet there was no investigation by the Commission.
“If you’re looking for wrongdoing also, what we have seen in this recount is that Mr. Mingo’s numbers were completely flawed and inflated but yet there has been no attempt made to address that issue…We’re curious to know if Madam Chair is going to ask the Police to come and conduct a criminal investigation into the conduct of Mr. Mingo and whoever else his cohorts may be,” he said.
For Change Guyana, its leader Robert Badal said that the Chairperson must see that her investigating at this point is premature as there are provisions for objections after the declaration.
He said he also finds it “immaterial” the frivolous claims by the incumbent APNU+AFC.
“Unless something has a material impact in terms of numbers or percentages on the results, it is immaterial and of no consequence. Every elections will have some issues. You will always have some things like this such as complaints about processes and forth. I am not lawyer but I don’t think it is her mandate, in this point and time, to be involved in these investigations. That comes during the area of a post review. After a declaration, then the elections commission should conduct investigations and reviews and those will also make future elections better,” he said.
“We have lost much time already with the inefficiencies of the commission and them trying to derail and delay. The urgency is to complete the count and declare a winner, and whatever deviations, like in all other elections, can be dealt with after that. There are provisions for petitions and that sort of thing, but that comes after the declaration. No one can petition while the count is going on. The urgency is to complete the count and declare the results. Any attempt by the commission to go into these this things is just giving the perception that the Elections Commission continues to be compromised,” he added.
