Dear Editor,
Tell me you won without telling me you won is the conundrum that faces political parties in Guyana after elections; the major parties have polling agents in every poll station and these agents are given a certified copy of the Statement of Poll (SOP) that have the official numbers for that station, within 12 hours after the close of polling, the results are known by the major parties, this is a fact. The conundrum is letting the supporters know that you have won without ‘declaring’ or using the words “I Declare’ since the only person who could make an ‘official’ declaration of the winner is the Chair of GECOM. In 2020, on the morning of the 3rd March the PPP/C having tabulated the SOPs, sent a signal via a selfie taken by me and posted on my Facebook page, it showed Irfaan Ali, Bharrat Jagdeo and others smiling and was titled “Life without coffee is a mistake!” no ‘declaration’ was made but everyone knew instantly that the PPP/C had won the elections. Then came Mingo and the now well-exposed plot to steal the elections for the APNU+AFC.
President Granger spent the years 2018-2020 sending Guyanese in circles around the Courts, Commission (Gecom), and Constitution including having to clarify what the majority of an odd number would be, so when President Granger went to speak to his supporters on the 5th March, three days after the elections and a two days after Mingo had begun his clumsy attempt to blatantly use false numbers instead of those on certified SOP’s, Granger would have known that his party lost. However, he still made a ‘non- declaration, declaration’ “Tonight, the APNU and AFC have come to tell you thanks. We worked hard and we covered all of the regions. You know what we stand for and you have supported us,” “Over the next five years we are going to make life better for you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The APNU thanks you. The AFC thanks you,”. It was not a cup of coffee nor was it based on the numbers; it was ‘kool-aid’.
Granger has been silent on the location of his party’s certified SOPs and it was surprising to see him write to the press following my testimony in the Hughes V Jagdeo trial (The Lowlife case). When asked by Nigel Hughes if I had ever heard Mr. Granger or Mrs. Hughes officially declare APNU+AFC won the 2020 elections, I answered in the affirmative and indicated that I saw a video of Granger making a victory declaration; did he use the word ‘declare’? Does one have to? Was there doubt about what Granger was saying and what he meant? … The BBC reported that Granger declared victory on the 5th of March 2020.
I can only make suppositions as to why Granger would reply to my testimony and those include an attempt to sway the court, a clumsy attempt to rewrite history, an effort to exonerate himself and finally to assist Mr. Hughes in his campaign for the Presidential candidacy of APNU+AFC in 2025 (at the expense of Mr. Norton). Ultimately, Granger is sharing ‘kool-aid’ in a country now grown accustomed to coffee and, there are not many takers.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh
