Savagery is one of the few words to describe the putting down by Myanmar’s security forces of protests over the military coup on February 1st this year. At least 114 protesters – a conservative figure – have been killed by Myanmar forces and this barbarity has escalated with the killing of children and an attack yesterday on a funeral in the town of Bago near to the commercial capital, Yangon.
While there has been widespread international condemnation of the overthrow of the government returned at recent elections, Guyanese should take note of China’s loud silence at the seizure of power by the military and the bloodletting. Worse, Russia has provided overt backing for the Myanmar military during the crisis. Russian deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin met junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Friday and said Myanmar was a reliable ally and strategic partner of Moscow, the Tass news agency reported.
At every available forum, Guyana must rail against this brutal upturning of the democratic order and join the international campaign for an end to the killings and a restoration of democracy in Myanmar. The tragedy in Myanmar recalls this country’s own close shave last year with those seeking to subvert democracy. No one knows with any certainty what a seizure of power on behalf of APNU+AFC would have looked like here or what it might have triggered. However, it was too close for comfort and every possible step must now be taken to cauterise any future attempt at electoral malpractice.
Nearly eight months have elapsed since the PPP/C government has been in office and despite the urgency to act in implementing reforms to strengthen the electoral system and safeguards there is no sign of legislation on the horizon. President Ali’s solemn promise in his inauguration address for an inquiry into the elections of March 2nd 2020 has not been delivered perhaps because it may have complicated and intersected with the prosecution of GECOM staff and the hearing of the election petition. These circumstances, however, cannot excuse the failure to deliver legislative reforms that require a simple majority in Parliament.
It is also indefensible that the government-appointed commissioners on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are yet to move for the decisive removal from the electoral machinery of the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, the District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo and others who engaged in overt acts inimical to free and fair elections.
It goes without saying that the Chair of GECOM, retired Justice of Appeal, Claudette Singh should have on her own initiated steps to remove these officers in the interest of protecting electoral democracy. She has failed to act and this adds to the pattern of mystifying conduct on her part going all the way back to March 5th last year at the point of the first outrageous declaration of the fraudulent result for District Four by Mr Mingo. There is nothing stopping GECOM from acting while criminal charges against said electoral officers are pursued in the courts.
On several occasions this year and last year, the PPP/C has made commitments to act on electoral reforms but its sloth – as on critical pieces of legislation in the oil and gas sector – raises questions about its motives and commitment to reforms. The PPP/C does not need to review recommendations of the reports of observer missions from the European Union, CARICOM, the Carter Center, the Organisation of American States, the Commonwealth or any other group before acting on electoral reforms. Indeed, it would likely assert its independence of action to determine which reforms are proceeded with. Moreover, these observer missions have election after election repeated many of the same recommendations but there still hasn’t been action on those that could be carried by legislation let alone those that require a super majority or deeper constitutional reforms.
The entire first quarter has passed without either the government or GECOM committing to the holding of local government elections this year. After the PPP/C disgracefully withheld local government elections between 1996 and 2015 they were restored by the Granger administration in 2016 and then repeated in 2018. Elections are now due again by November or December this year and they must be held if the culture of local government has any chance of flourishing amid the baby steps that have been taken in recent years.
Both GECOM and the government must make an unequivocal commitment to the holding of local government elections this year. The fly in the ointment is the GECOM Secretariat which infamously tried to deny the will of the people even though thousands of polling day workers performed their March 2nd tasks efficiently and heroically. To overcome the obvious immediate difficulty posed by the present occupants of key electoral offices, we repeat again that the Government of Guyana should make an urgent request to CARICOM and the Commonwealth for the seconding of a Chief Election Officer and a deputy and that the relevant motion be tabled at GECOM for approval. This would help in ensuring that local government elections can be held on time. Decisions would also be required on the register to be utilised for the extraction of the list of electors for local government polls. There has been enough time wasting and both the government and GECOM must discharge their obligations.
