In the midst of his attempts to protect the Region Four Statements of Poll (SOPs) and other elections material, Assistant Commissioner of Police Edgar Thomas said he was relieved of his Command of the division because he refused to comply with instructions which were coming from the then Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers, who appeared to have the support of his superiors.
Thomas, who has served the force for 39 years, said he was resultantly reassigned without being given reasons.
“I received a letter from Deputy Commissioner Williams. Well he said to me first that the Commissioner was not pleased with my performance. The letter clearly stated that I am no longer in command of Region Division 4 and I was assigned as a patrol officer at Force Headquarters,” Thomas told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 2020 elections yesterday.
Thomas, who was the second witness to give evidence at the inquiry, made the disclosure while he was responding to questions from Senior Counsel Sophia Chote and Chairman of the CoI retired Justice Stanley John, who appeared in disbelief at his revelations.
According to their Terms of Reference, the Commissioners are to inquire 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 the Representation of the People Act. 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 the law, and by whom.
During his almost two-hour long testimony, Thomas, who now heads the presidential guard, made startling revelations, including accusing the then Commissioner of Police Leslie James and Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Maxine Graham of being in “support” of Myers’ actions.
In doing so, he said they breached several Standard Operating Procedures by trying to follow instructions, particularly from Myers, when a ruckus broke out at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre at the Ashmins building on March 5, 2020.
The same day, Thomas was relieved of his command as the head of Region Four (A) after he reportedly failed to clear the building of all persons in the wake of a bomb threat.
Stabroek News had previously reported that Thomas was spearheading the police operation at the GECOM Media Centre, which was also the office for the Returning Officer of District Four, when he received a telephone call from a rank informing him of his transfer.
This newspaper was informed that Thomas was removed after he reportedly refused to remove several persons, including GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj, and clear the premises following the bomb scare.
Reports are that the instruction was reportedly given to Thomas by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Phillip Azore, a rank junior to him.
Though he was not stripped of his rank after being reassigned, Thomas was tasked with carrying out duties not even a rank junior to him would perform.
In fact, he said although he was posted to Force Headquarters he was not even accommodated. “I was there doing nothing…Not even at a desk. I was not accommodated…There was no desk or office given to me,” Thomas said.
‘Very important announcement’
Prior to the elections, Thomas said a meeting was held with Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, Myers and Lowenfield’s assistant, whom he only remembered as ‘Hetsberger’. “My responsibility was to take care of or provide security for [the] GECOM building and Command Centre, High and Hadfield Street,” he said.
Since the occurrence, yesterday was the first time Thomas provided a first-hand account of some of the events which unfolded prior to now former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo declaring the APNU+AFC coalition the winner of District Four using doctored figures.
With tabulation still incomplete, Thomas told the CoI that he received a call from Azore on March 5, 2020, who informed him that Myers indicated that a “very important” announcement” would be made later on that date. As such, he said Azore requested additional ranks. “I told him to use the available resource he had at his disposal,” Thomas said.
He left the GECOM Command Centre and upon his return Thomas related that he received information that Mingo had declared the results for Region Four. Present at the time were three GECOM Commissioners—Gunraj, Robeson Benn, and the now deceased Bibi Shadick.
A number of police officers were also around. They were manning the doors to the building to prevent party agents and local and international observers from entering. “From my observation, those police officers were strategically placed .. there,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, he ordered the police officers to stand down. At the time, he said neither Lowenfield nor Myers was around. However, Thomas recalled seeing GECOM Chairman, retired Justice Claudette Singh “trying to make her way out the building”. She was accompanied by Azore.
This declaration which resulted from an unverified “spreadsheet” tallying votes was vitiated by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, who later ordered that Mingo use the statutory document, Statements of Poll (SOPs), to calculate the results.
Mingo failed to do as directed and made a second declaration with different numbers. Despite pressure from local and international observers, Mingo stuck to his numbers and a National Recount which lasted for more than a month was then held. That recount showed the PPP/C as victorious.
Clear the building
Thomas told the CoI of attempts that were made to clear to building.
Although he was dressed in his uniform, Thomas said he believed that the instruction was also directed to him. “She was shouting in an aggressive manner…..She said ‘I want y’all out of the building’, Thomas recalled, in reference to Myers.
He then had a conversation with Gunraj about securing SOPs and election materials. “The Commissioner was trying to get over to Miss Roxanne Myers that they need to protect the statements of poll, to secure it,” Thomas said. He said Myers did not pay any attention to Gunraj’s concern but was “more inclined” about getting people out of the building and engaged the police for assistance in doing so.
Myers subsequently telephoned his superior, Graham, to relate that he was not complying with her instruction to get people out of the building, he said.
Before that, Thomas said he noticed Azore approaching his direction and heading towards Myers. “He was there but I didn’t ask him for any assistance at the time or give him any instruction to do anything,” he said.
After making face to face contact with him, Thomas said Azore “diverted”.
According to Thomas, the police also received a report of a bomb threat.
Upon receiving the report, Thomas related that he instructed that everyone evacuate the premises for their safety. However, he said persons who were present, including observers, were skeptical about leaving the unfinished tabulation process unattended and other election materials, including SOPs.
(Thomas said that the call was later traced to a house in Georgetown. It was made by a relative of a Deputy Permanent Secretary, whom he could not immediately remember. The individual, Thomas said, was arrested and released on bail. What happened afterwards, Thomas was unable to say. “I am unable to say at this stage what transpired after…. because I was removed from being the commander of that division,” he said.)
It was at this point, Thomas said Myers began to ignore him and started to communicate directly with Azore.
Thomas told the CoI that although he did not request additional support at that time, about eight members from the Special branch were seen around the building based on instruction given by Myers.
“Since I was still in charge of the security, I attempted to evict them out of the building,” he said.
At the time former Commissioner, Nigel Hoppie, headed special branch. He did not communicate with Thomas prior to deploying the ranks. “…After this issue with Miss Roxanne Myers, it is my humble opinion that they were in support of her,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, there was no need for the presence of the special branch ranks. “There was no need for the special branch because they were not useful to my operations,” he related.
While it all unfolded, Gunraj continued to stress on protection for the SOPs and other election-related materials.
Subsequently, the situation worsened when Thomas received a call from then Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, who supported Graham’s case that persons needed to vacate the building. “He told me to have the people vacate the building,” he said.
Thomas said he did not comply with his superior’s order and they had “several discussions. “I indicated to Commissioner of Police Mr Leslie James that we have an issue with security of the statement of polls and other election related materials….He was forcing his point that they must vacate the building,” he further related.
Minutes after, Thomas recalled seeing Deputy Superintendent Clifton Davis and Assistant Superintendent Ali from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) arriving at the location. They, too, ignored his presence and proceeded into the building.
After he reminded them that he was the most senior officers on the ground, they left and returned with 15 “fully armed” ranks. According to Thomas, “only” the Commissioner of Police, who at the time was James, had the authority to dispatch TSU.
He had a public order unit in his division itself and he did not use it since the need did not arise, he said.
According to Thomas, he tried to contact James “several times” but his calls went unanswered. He was calling James to seek permission to leave the location since he said based on what he witnessed he did not believe that he was in charge anymore.
When he returned to the building the following day, Thomas said barricades were erected. He had no knowledge whose instruction was being followed since it wasn’t his.
‘Tampering’
Meanwhile, Thomas also revealed that there appeared to be attempts made to tamper with data by GECOM Information Technology (IT) officer Enrique Livan.
On the morning of March 4, 2020, the police had conducted a public interrogation of Livan at the tabulation centre at the Ashmins building, after a party agent claimed they saw him entering data from a “flash drive onto a spreadsheet” outside the scrutiny of party representatives and observers.
The spreadsheet was said to be the vehicle for the fraudulent polling station results that were announced for District Four by Mingo.
In his testimony given under oath, Thomas told the CoI that he received a call that “someone who was not part of the tabulation process removed a flash drive from the tabulation centre and was seen in the computer room, which is a room nearby, appearing to be tampering with the data”.
Immediately, Thomas said he contacted Senior Superintendent, Wright from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), who was the divisional CID officer-in-charge and together they journeyed to the Ashmins building. They were two to three other officers with them.
Upon arrival there, there were multiple reporters who were saying someone, who wasn’t part of the tabulation process, was in the computer room and he was seen “interfering” with the data on a flash drive.
Among the persons who made the complaint was a representative from the European Union (EU) observer team.
He said they went to the room where the individual was identified as Livan. “There we questioned the person that was pointed out to us. His name was given as Enrique Livan… He was sitting at his desk bending over on the table… His laptop computer was there… it was closed,” Thomas recalled.
Wright identified himself to Livan and cautioned him. “He (Livan) said that he was tired and he was in that room (the tabulation centre) and he came out because he was tired,” he said.
His intention was to have the computer and flash drive in custody of the police. “We tried to do that in the first instance,” he said but after realizing that the computer and flash drive played a “vital” role, he called Lowenfield.
Thomas said he did not want to “tamper” with electoral material and as such he agreed not to remove the computer and flash drive.
He told the CoI that he remained at the location and there was discussion between the political parties and observers and there was a suggestion that the data contained on the computer and flash drive be put on a “big screen” in the tabulation room. Livan moved the equipment. “…They put the data onto a big screen,” Thomas said and it was in an “Excel format and appeared to be different based on comparison.”
As a result, he said the political parties represented requested a hard copy of the data that was already verified. The call was made to Lowenfield. “He promised and he delivered it,” Thomas said.
The CoI’s public hearings will resume on Monday.
