Hearings in the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 2020 general and regional elections are set to commence in the first week of November and approximately six months have been set for completion after which a report will be handed over to President Irfaan Ali.
“The oral hearing will begin in the first week of November and is expected to go into December until all the relevant witnesses have been committed to give their testimony and be cross- examined……The time schedule fixed for the purpose of the completion by the Commission is approximately six months within which the report should be delivered to the President,” Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandall told Stabroek News yesterday.
Nandall said since the Commissioners were appointed, premises situated at the bottom flat of the former Globe Trust building at 92 Middle Street, Georgetown, have been rented and equipped to facilitate the CoI.
“The premises has since been secured and rented and have been fully furnished and equipped to accommodate the Commissioners, the Secretariat of the Commission, a place appointed and furnished for the hearing of evidence as well as to accommodate lawyers, persons who will be attending, members of the public as well as witnesses and interested parties and of course the press. All of that has been completed,” Nandlall told Stabroek News.
“Of course you had to get computer, printers, furniture, an audio recording equipment….to produce transcript of evidence and proceedings of the Commission,” he added.
Staff members including a secretary of the Commission, an administrator, a clerk to the Commission, secretariat staff and technical support staff as well as counsel to the Commission have also been appointed, Nandlall said.
According to Nandlall, the Commissioners will be operating both in-person and virtually. “The Commissioners will be operating both in Guyana and out of Guyana using the Zoom and other similar platforms. They will be here when they consider it necessary to hold oral hearings,” he noted.
A notice, Nandlall said will also be published in the daily newspapers inviting witnesses to make contact with the Commission for the purpose of taking statements.
“After the taking of statements and after the presentation of the evidence, then the Commission will take its time to assess the evidence and to write the report,” he said.
On September 13, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan administered the oath of office to retired Trinidad Justice of Appeal Stanley John; former Attorney General, High Court Judge and Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Godfrey P. Smith SC; and former Chancellor (Ag), of the Guyana Judiciary, Carl Singh. Justice John will serve as chair while Dr Nasim Zaidi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India; and Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, former Chairman of the Ghana Elections Commission will serve as resource personnel. Both of these men had been present as advisors during the elections under the auspices of the Commonwealth.
The CoI is a result of a promise by President Irfaan Ali to investigate the attempt to rig the March 2020 polls. Five months after the March 2nd 2020 polls and after a series of legal battles, Ali was finally declared the winner of the presidential elections and subsequently sworn in as the country’s ninth executive president on August 2, 2020.
After taking office, he promised the probe into the elections by an international team. He had also committed his government to pursue the necessary reforms to strengthen democracy and make the electoral process more transparent.
The CoI will pay particular attention to District Four which was the epicentre of attempts to rig the polls. This information was contained in the terms of reference (TORs) released for the CoI.
The Commissioners under the said Act are to inquire into the matters set out by President Ali and include an inquiry into and report upon the relevant circumstances and events leading up to, and the procedures following, the Regional and General Elections held in Guyana on the 2nd day of March 2020. The investigation is not limited to, but includes the counting, ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and the public declaration of those results by the Returning Officer of Electoral District No. 4 and other election officers, as prescribed by sections 84 to 89 of the Representation of the People Act, Chap. 1.03.
The three Commissioners will also examine what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert and prevent the counting, ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and a declaration of the true results of Electoral District No. 4 as prescribed by sections 84 to 89 of the Representation of the People Act, Chap. 1:03, and by whom.
