On the crucial day when an illegal declaration of the results of the 2020 general elections was made, GECOM Chair, retired justice Claudette Singh was found locked away in a room with Deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers and around one dozen men.
This was related on Monday and yesterday to the Commission of Inquiry into events surrounding the March 2nd 2020 general elections.
Singh’s whereabouts on that day and why she had not intervened to thwart an illegal declaration of results have been key unanswered questions.
After she was nowhere to be seen on that pivotal day, election agents for opposition parties and observers became worried about her safety and wellbeing and attempted to find her, the inquiry heard.
“At one point I was overcome by fear that some harm may come to the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission since I had not seen her….. After there was a suspicion that she is being held captive,” Deputy Speaker and Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman yesterday told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the elections.
Shuman, who was the only witness to give evidence in the inquiry yesterday made this disclosure as he provided his account of the events of what took place at the GECOM Command Centre which was housed at Ashmins building following the March 2 elections.
Shuman told the CoI which is being chaired by retired Justice, Stanley John that “real fear” overcame him after Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo attempted to declare the results of the Region on March 6, 2020 although the verification process was incomplete.
Prior to this, he said he had also made several attempts to contact Justice Singh but they were futile.
Subsequently, Shuman explained that a group of persons including Change Guyana Prime Ministerial Candidate, Nigel Hinds and founder and former high-ranking executive member of The New Movement (TNM), Dr Josh Kanhai proceeded to the third flat of the building.
Shuman said he followed the group to a room where it was suspected that Justice Singh was being held.
Recalling what happened, Shuman told the CoI that a “specific” door was “heavily cordoned” by police and “some members of that group charged at the door, forcing it open”.
As he sought clarity, retired Justice John asked Shuman if the Chair was in that room and he responded “no sir”. However, he said there were police officers who threatened to arrest anyone who entered. “They were manhandling Mr Hinds. They had arrested Mr Josh Kanhai at the time,” Shuman told retired Justice John.
He was asked further by Justice John about the role he played at this time and Shuman said he “hovered” in front of the door. “I stood there behind the crowd enquiring as to where the Chair may be and I was told that the Chair was ushered into another room and that room is adjoined to the one that was breached by another wooden door and it was heavily guarded,” he explained.
Shuman was the lone witness to testify before the CoI yesterday. On Monday afternoon, Kanhai testified under oath during which he also provided details about the whereabouts of the Chair.
Kanhai told the CoI that on the afternoon of March 6, 2020, Police Inspector Narine arrived at the location and although he told the police that the Chair had summoned him saying she wasn’t feeling well, he wasn’t allowed to enter.
“They were barricading so no one could enter the third floor. He (Narine) was pleading with the police officers to let him through but they were being difficult about it. They were saying it is prohibited at this point,” Kanhai recalled.
The ambulance arrived and eventually Narine was allowed to enter the building, Kanhai said, while noting that persons present also “broke” the barricades and made their way to the third floor of the building where the Chair was.
“Once there, I noticed that a door had all the locks missing and it was secured…That was where it became very interesting….The locks were intact but the handles were all broken off. Given my medical empathy, I decided to have a go at that door…. I saw Madam Chair seated on the couch with Miss Roxanne Myers sitting on the handle and about 12 men in that room,” Kanhai, who is a medical doctor by profession told the CoI.
According to Kanhai, the Chair appeared “flustered” and “pale”. Kanhai was later arrested and charged and while he secured bail, to date he has not received any notice on when he has to appear in court.
Derailed
Both Kanhai and Shuman told the CoI that their fear about the GECOM Chair’s safety was driven mainly by concern that should anything go wrong with her, the electoral process would be derailed.
“…..I was thinking in my head if something is wrong with her or something should be wrong with her, how long this process would be derailed,” Kanhai told the CoI on Monday.
Meanwhile, although he was cautioned by Senior Counsel, Sophia Chote and retired Justice John about expounding on “suspicions”, Shuman continued by expanding on the possible implications of the elections Chair being harmed.
“…The implications of having harm come to the Chair without any kind of verification would mean that there could be no declaration of results, it would mean that the Government may sit in breach of certain articles of the constitution, it would mean that we would have to re-run the entire elections. That is what drove our actions to ensure that the Chairwoman was safe,” he told Chote.
As a matter of fact, he made it clear that the sole purpose of him going to the room was to ascertain the safety of retired Justice Singh. “I think as a political leader your Honour that it is the responsibility of every civic person, their civic duty, to ensure that no harm comes to any public employee” Shuman told Justice John.
While he was providing details, Shuman also sought permission from the Commission to expound on the reasons for such but Chote told him that it was “not necessary”.
Justice John also reminded Shuman that the CoI has Terms of Reference. “…What you want to tell us is not really necessary….We have certain Terms of Reference and the Commission….What we want to know is what happened that day,” Justice John told Shuman.
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 Represen-tation 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.
Revoke accreditations
Other aspects of Shuman’s testimony like the previous witness’ also focused on what took place before Mingo attempted to declare the Region Four results for the elections with doctored figures showing APNU+AFC had won.
But before the declaration was made, Shuman pointed out to the CoI that the then acting Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Karen Cummings had threatened to revoke the accreditations of observers including those of the head of the Commonwealth observer group, former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur and Head of the OAS observer mission, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Asked about the observers’ reaction to this by Chote, Shuman said Arthur “vociferously” protested. “He protested very vociferously stating that the accreditation was not given by the Government but by the Elections Commission. They are operating under international treaties and international law and there was a whole lot of support for his position,” Shuman told Chote.
He said Cummings did not say “much else” while noting at the same she received a phone call on a phone Myers had in her possession. After taking the call, Shuman said Myers left.
Chote further questioned Shuman about his observations of the observ-ers’ reaction to Cummings’ statement which he described as “disgust”.
“Absolute and utter disgust that you could invite foreign missions to come and observe a democratic process and not only to the observers, I think members of the diplomatic corps to come and observe a democratic process and when they get to the point where they are doing what they had committed to do, you are threatening to remove their accreditation,” Shuman stated.
He said Cummings did not gave a reason for the threat.
While all this was going on, Shuman told the CoI that he stood at the door of the room. He said he remained in the building for the entire day and after the “episode” with the observers and Cummings he returned to the tabulation room. “There was a complete cessation of activities in relation to GECOM’s process,” he said.
Public hearings into the CoI are set to continue this morning at 9am.
