In an appearance before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), Guyana’s representatives yesterday repudiated the CARICOM report on the national recount and erroneously declared that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had vitiated the process.
“In our estimation it was not a representative sample [that they observed] and at the end of it all they said it was reasonably credible. It’s either something is credible or it’s not credible…that 18% [of ballot boxes observed] is not a representative sample….and so it is really unfair to make such a general…it’s a fallacy, a hasty generalization of a process which they haven’t concluded,” de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Cummings declared during a special meeting on Guyana’s electoral process.
Cummings’ statement was made in response to a plethora of requests at the Washington, DC US-based OAS that the APNU+AFC respect the will of the people as reflected in the recount and allow for a transition to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Her statement also ignored the commitment that President David Granger had given to abide by the recount results.
The 33 days recount was conducted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and scrutinized by a three-person team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
There had never been an agreement for the CARICOM team to inspect each and every ballot box or ballot paper. Team members were simply to scrutinise the process.
The CARICOM team in a report submitted after the recount concluded the results of the process were “completely acceptable” and can be used as a basis for the establishment of a legitimate government.
According to the report while there were irregularities they were not sufficient to have thwarted the will of the people and consequently preventing the election results and its declaration by GECOM from reflecting the will of the voters.
“Many of the instances of irregularities that we witnessed can be explained by either the incompetence of the Presiding Officers at the polling stations on March 02, 2020 and or the failure to give adequate training by GECOM to its staff on the varied possibilities which may have arisen at the level of the individual stations,” they concluded.
The David Granger-led APNU+AFC had claimed that CARICOM was the most legitimate interlocutor of Guyana’s electoral process and committed to accepting the results of the recount but have since claimed that the process revealed fraud and could not be accepted.
All other stakeholders and members of the international community have disagreed.
Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, Ronald Sanders yesterday said of the process that the Commission was being stymied.
“GECOM has not been able to declare a result because supporters of APNU+AFC are encouraged to take the matter to the Court again and again, were this not so GECOM could’ve made a declaration a long time ago,” he said.
Cummings however maintained during a 10-minute presentation that the electoral process is not yet complete.
She reminded that President Granger has publicly stated that he will abide by any declaration that GECOM’s chairperson makes in keeping with the laws of Guyana. While Cummings attempted to suggest that this has always been Granger’s position, the qualifier `in keeping with the law’ of the country is a recent addition.
The de facto Minister stressed repeatedly that there is no breakdown of law in Guyana and that the electoral process is managed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) an independent body constitutionally charged to conduct elections.
Democratic nation
“The executive has never tried to interfere or instruct GECOM… Guyana is a democratic nation and intends to remain so” she said before calling on the international community to “be patient and not seek to influence unduly the constitutional and legal processes which are currently ongoing in Guyana.”
Cummings who addressed the gathering thrice made no mention of the fact that GECOM Chairperson Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh has accepted the results of the recount and asked the Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield to prepare a report based on these results which show a victory for the PPP/C.
Lowenfield has repeatedly refused to comply with this request and an agent of the coalition has taken the matter to the Courts. Applicant Misenga Jones is seeking to have the recount invalidated and the Commission compelled to make a declaration based on the declarations from the Returning Officers (RO). These include the declaration from Region Four RO Clairmont Mingo which has been widely discredited.
Cummings was accompanied by Attorney General Basil Williams who attempted to deflect attention to the achievements of the incumbent while in office.
According to Williams the picture painted of doom and gloom in Guyana is not one that is true. Presenting his party’s version of events Williams claimed that the Order authorizing the recount has been vitiated in by the Caribbean Court of Justice after it was found to be in tension with the Constitution.
“The CCJ has said that the Order was in tension with the Constitution and… therefore was invalid,” Williams argued.
This position is a direct contrast to the ruling of the Chief Justice Roxane George who declared on Monday that far from nullifying Order 60 and the recount process, the CCJ explicitly endorsed it.
“The CCJ judgment lends to the ineluctable conclusion that the recount votes are ex facie valid,” she ruled.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall speaking on behalf of the PPP/C took issue with Williams’ misrepresentation lamenting to the council that such “narratives” have become common place during this elections process.
“He continues to spin a narrative that defies reality. The narrative he is spinning is inconsistent with what every other person and every other organization has observed and spoke and wrote about in relation to Guyana’s elections. He just misrepresented completely the ruling of the CCJ. It purpose and effect…that is the narrative the people of Guyana have had to deal with on a daily basis. Misrepresentation lies and fabrications all because their repeatedly attempts to rig the elections are being uncovered,” Nandlall argued.
Also speaking on behalf of the PPP/C was Prime Ministerial Candidate Mark Phillips.
