Dear Editor,
I watched a section of the last AFC’s press conference on Friday, November 1 during which Nigel Hughes, when asked whether the party should apologise for its role in attempting to rig the 2020 elections, responded, “Apologize for what? If you’re talking about our role in elections, I would ask you to identify to me specifically what it is that you are saying the AFC did in the elections for which you are seeking an apology…” Editor, Hughes’ refusal to even acknowledge his party’s role in the repulsive events of 2020 is as bold as it is troubling, considering how well-documented those events were. Bruce Golding, former Jamaican Prime Minister and Head of the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Guyana, remarked, in one video presentation during that time that “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an election…It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present fictitious numbers when such a sturdy paper trail exists.”
Mr. Golding then went on to explain, using actual Statements of Poll in his possession, the crude attempt at establishing fraudulent SOP numbers that was being made by Clairmont Mingo and supported by the APNU+AFC political machinery. In May of 2020, current AFC and then AFC executive, David Patterson, told the media that the SOP numbers that Mingo read out matched the SOPs of the Coalition. Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, Patterson said that the official results should be based on those numbers, now proven to be fraudulent, returning David Granger and the APNU+AFC to power. Despite this, Patterson, then Minister of Public Infrastructure, said that it would not be in the public interest to release those SOPs. The AFC was, therefore, not just a passive observer; it was a full participant of the sordid events in 2020. For Nigel Hughes, the party’s founding member, former Chair, and current Leader, to brush aside this responsibility is disingenuous at best. It begs the question: What kind of competent and credible leader does not take ownership of mistakes? One with the same “extraordinarily courageous mind” Prime Minister Golding described, it would seem.
If the AFC truly seeks to restore its credibility, it must begin with accountability. To regain public trust, the party must face the truth, accept past mistakes, and commit to upholding, not undermining, democracy with transparency and integrity. That should begin with a clear and unequivocal apology for its role in the electoral fraud that took place, and as an act of good faith, Hughes should ask Patterson to present the SOPs that he had in his possession in 2020. At the very least, Nigel Hughes and his AFC owe this to the people of Guyana.
Sincerely,
Alfonso De Armas
