Although the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition has publicly maintained that the elections were not credible, its Prime Ministerial candidate Khemraj Ramjattan on Wednesday told members of his staff that he is prepared to accept the results of the national recount of votes cast at the March 2nd polls which show a victory for the opposition PPP/C.
Ramjattan, who is Minister of Public Security and the leader of the Alliance For Change, made the admission during a meeting where he thanked unit heads at the Public Security Ministry for their work.
“I rather suspect that tomorrow there might be a declaration that the numbers were against us… I am prepared to accept and move on and I wanted to not miss the opportunity because if it happens tomorrow say… I will be out and I will not have said a word of thank you for provisioning of so many of your expertise and experiences that made me a better minister than when I came,” Ramjattan said in the engagement, from which an audio recording was leaked yesterday.
Beaten us
He said that from the recount process, which was triggered by non-acceptance of the disputed Region Four declarations, the “PPP has beaten us by some 15,000 votes,” although he later did note “certain credibility issues” with the results.
“It is difficult time for me but this is how life’s journey goes. Sometimes in life you have to make a departure because in politics you obviously get a winner and a loser,” Ramjattan said.
While indicating to his staff that the process was not officially completed, he said “I understand that the CEO [Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield] is thinking a number of boxes [that] didn’t have any documents inside ought to be subtracted from the number of votes we have now and that can create another great lot between two very strong constitutional officers—the Chairman [Claudette Singh] and CEO. Where that will take us? I hope to god it doesn’t take us into lawlessness.”
Lowenfield was on Tuesday directed by the Chairperson to prepare a report in keeping with the law in order to facilitate the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in making a final declaration of the results. .
However, on Thursday he failed to present the report before the 1 pm deadline after being served notice of a legal challenge, although no order had been granted to prevent him from submitting the document.
The coalition has been criticised for deliberately stringing along supporters with the contention that the coalition won and seeking to discredit the elections process.
Ramjattan yesterday appeared on the APNU+AFC recount update programme, which was broadcast live on Facebook, and he said that he was happy a citizen had moved to the court to seek clarity on what Lowenfield should present in his report. He said that this court proceeding will provide a “wonderful exercise” for learning. He said, too, persons should not be critical and say that they are using the court proceedings to delay the declaration since it is a learning lesson for the nation.
“We want to be an institutional democracy, so whenever we have use problems like this confronting us where do you go? You act on the opinions of the PPP-ites on the road? The courts is the best place to go. Our court system has the final bearing and our court system has to determine it,” he said.
Under control
In his meeting with the ministry staff on Wednesday, Ramjattan noted that he was hopeful of a “soft landing” following the final declaration of the results, while acknowledging the tremendous tension that has gripped the nation.
“There is tremendous tension out there. Some people feel that the loss of an elections is a death penalty. It is not a death penalty. In modern democracies, as we are building in Guyana, you went into the race, you lose…,” he added, while calling the recount a long replay of the results.
He noted that he has spoken with the Police Commissioner Leslie James and was given the assurance that everything was under control. As a result, Ramjattan said he was hopeful that there would be no unrest or disturbances.
He described his years as a minister as one of the best times in his life time and called his tenure an extraordinarily wonderful experience.
