Dear Editor,
Some days after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) had decided to defeat a motion requesting the Commission to conduct a review of the 2020 General and Regional Elections, His Excellency President Irfaan Ali announced the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into the same 2020 Elections. His action, recalled for older people, a declaration by General De Gaulle during the Second World War: “I am ready to assume the Powers of The Republic”.
At this date, citizens do not know whether the all-male Commission of equally eminent persons, with equally eminent resource assistance will simply investigate the expenditures incurred by GECOM and perhaps the State of Public Order during the period and the impasse during the counting of the votes.
Such enquiries may raise disputes and arguments, but few legal issues. If in time it turns out the earnest Commission is required to investigate the electoral process there is at least one member of the older generation who would consider it his duty to apply to the High Court for relevant declarations.
On the surface, it appears that GECOM has a statutory duty to write and print a general report on each election it conducts. This citizen, in the past, in the days of an unrepresentative electoral commission obtained printed copies of these reports and studied them, as did several other concerned citizens. There is yet no word from GECOM when the printed report of the 2020 General and Regional Elections will be available to the public. An official statement on such a mandatory report will be helpful.
Some two weeks ago (June 10, 2022), my letter questioning the reason that suspected electoral offenders charged in 2020 had not yet been tried appeared in some newspapers and in this publication. Whether in answer to that letter or not, an official statement promising trial on July 15, 2022 has been made.
It is becoming more and more clearer that Guyana’s President, Head of State, Supreme Executive Authority, and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is in urgent need of legal advice or needs to listen to the legal advice he enjoys.
Yours sincerely,
Eusi Kwayana
