Weekend Mirror 31 July - 1 August 2021

Race baiting is only ‘tool’ Coalition has left – Jagdeo 31 July - 1 August, 2021 / Vol. 11 ‒ No. 83 / Price: $100

Email: mirror2018.gy@gmail.com

PAGE 3

Speaker to be advised on NCMs soon – Clerk PAGE 17

PAGE 23

PAGE 2

Menu of measures being PAGE 14 considered to further help Guyanese ExxonMobil announces discoveries at Whiptail-1, Whiptail-2 PAGE 19

APNU+AFC Coalition called out for ‘deliberate’ and ‘reckless’ spread of misinformation The March 2020 Election Saga: Power just for the sake of power

SEE INSIDE

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy PAGE 6-10

2

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

The March 2020 Election Saga:

Power just for the sake of power [On August 2nd, Guyana will mark the one-year anniversary of the struggle for democracy. For five months, democratic-minded Guyanese fought to protect our country from attempts to thwart the will of the people. This piece was first published by the Weekend Mirror in June 2020]

By Gail Teixeira, PPP Executive Member

E

ighteen (18) months have passed, since the successful and valid passage of the no-confidence motion on December 21, 2018 that defeated the APNUAFC government. Guyanese waited for 14 months for the General and Regional Elections to be held on March 2, 2020, and then waited 105 days following the national recount. We have waited another 10 days since the conclusion of the recount of the votes from the March 2020 Elections for a declaration by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and still nothing.

That declaration, in accordance with the recount results, reflects a PPP/C victory.

In the course of these 18 months we have resisted again and again, and succeeded each time in stopping every attempt to derail our fragile democracy, and to steal our elections, our votes, our voice.

In this tangled web that the David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition ensnared our people and nation, we have resisted and thwarted each attempt to derail our democracy.

We maintained our resolve to protect democracy and the will of the people.

We have been challenged – some may say psychologically abused and tortured – to endure, worse yet to comprehend, the contortions that was the Coalition’s delusions, insinuations, deception and downright lies.

However, this frenetic behavior is not as mad as one may think.

The plot to discredit the results of the recount and restore the discredited Mingo-Lowenfield results of the 10 Electoral districts, which were finalized by March 14th, or the new Lowenfield disenfranchisement of over 275,000 voters, unravelled on June 13th as a part of a grand conspiracy hatched long ago.

The Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition has had a master plan prior to the no-confidence motion of how it would ensure it won the 2020 elections, not by its policies and programmes but by fiddling with the election machinery.

We must remember that the APNU+AFC Coalition came to office on a hairbreadth of 4,256 votes, less than 1% difference with

the PPP/C. This was followed by its defeat at the March 2016 Local Government Elections where the PPP/C won almost 60% of the 70 Local Authorities with 30,000 votes.

Again, at the November 2018 Local Government Elections, the Coalition lost 65% of the 80 Local Authorities with an even bigger margin of 45,000 votes. Therefore Granger and the PNC cabal recognized that the 2020 scheduled elections could not be taken for granted as a ‘shoe in’ for them.

Thus these plans were in place prior to the no-confidence motion and their defeat. The no-confidence motion caused the Granger-led cabal to bring forward their plans.

This tangled web of deception, however, can be easily unraveled with facts.

to November 2019 exposed the conspiracy to keep Granger and APNU+AFC Coalition in government as long as possible, in total disregard for the Constitution.

The Caribbean Court of Justice rulings of June 18, 2019 and orders of July 12, 2019, which declared that the appointment of the Chairman Patterson was flawed and unconstitutional and that elections must be held in three months, although paused due to judicial proceedings, certainly put a spoke in the Granger-PNC-APNU+AFCGECOM conspiracy.

But it mainly provided once again for more delays and Granger’s continuation in office.

There was an attempt to have further delays to appoint a new Chairperson following the CCJ decisions. This too failed

STRATEGIC POSITIONING The positioning in 2015 of former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix as Minister in the Ministry of the Presidency responsible for Citizenship, Immigration, and the Guyana Registrar’s Office was the first step in setting up the rigging machinery.

Granger as far back as November 2017, speaking to supporters in the diaspora, stated: "I think there are several questions that you have to ask yourself as you look to the future. You have to ask yourself how did the PNC gain office in 1964. Ask yourself how did the PNC remain in office and what did it do during that period. Ask yourself how the PNC regained office in 2015 and ask yourself how would the PNC retain office after 2020."

HTH REGISTRATION There was a move to have the GECOM machinery continue operating in a delinquent manner, to delay its preparedness for elections until the end of February 2020.

They wanted to ensure that there is a new House- to-House registration, which scraps the original database at GECOM and therefore disenfranchises thousands of voters. This was part of the original conspiracy prior to the no-confidence motion.

It was President Granger who wanted a House-to-House registration. On March 15, 2019, on the eve of the three-month deadline, he said: “The credibility of elections, in turn, is dependent in part on the integrity of the Official List of Electors. A contaminated list can vitiate the credibility of elections….the Government side, during its engagement with the Elections Commission, gained the impression that, considering the small size of the national population, the existing list of electors was ‘inflated’ and needed to be sanitised.”

Again on June 18th 2019 in Bartica he reiterated this and said: “It is essential that we hold fair, free and credible elections. We cannot proceed on the current list of voters. It is outdated and corrupted. It may hold as many as 200,000 incorrect entries. ..”

Isn’t it ironic that on Friday June 12, 2020, a year later, Granger referred to the same issue and parrots what APNU+AFC has been saying during the recount of over 200,000 irregularities to discredit the results of the recount of the elections.

Following CEO Lowenfield’s submission to the Chair of GECOM disenfranchising 275,000 voters, Granger reiterated his party’s lies and declared that he has confidence

GECOM CHAIR The appointment of a Chairman of the GECOM, in the person of retired Justice Patterson, amenable to the likings of President Granger even if it meant violating the Constitution in 2017, was followed by another 10 months and rejection of 18 names of eminent Guyanese produced by the Leader of the Opposition as required by the Constitution.

To an extent this plan worked from October 2017 to June 2019 in that it allowed for the appointment and promotion of key persons in the GECOM machinery who would in the March 2020 elections play a critical role in the attempt to derail the elections and appoint Granger back in office.

Patterson and Lowenfield played a critical role in delaying the preparedness of the GECOM for elections within the constitutional timeline of three months following the no-confidence motion. The fact that GECOM was not ready from December 2018

in the March 14, 2020 results and Mingo’s fraudulent spreadsheet and was willing to be sworn in on the basis of those results.

Remember it was the High Court that ruled on August 21, 2019 that GECOM could not scrap the database of the National Registration and that according to the Constitution the names of persons on that database could only be removed in keeping with the constitutional provisions.

Hence a dead person’s name could not be removed unless a death certificate was produced nor could someone who have moved from one part of Guyana to another or migrated to another country – once they were Guyanese citizens and their name was on the voters’ list, it was their choice to return to the community where their name was originally posted or return to Guyana to vote. There was no residency requirement in Guyana. It was also noted that Commonwealth citizens were also entitled to be registered and vote in Guyana.

Hoping for further delays to hold elections and reversal of the CJ’s ruling in order to re-introduce the House to House registration, the APNU+AFC Coalition appealed the decision. On February 10 2020, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court. Having failed in their efforts with the House-to-House campaign, the APNU+AFC put on a lethargic operation during the Claims and Objections between October to November 14 2019.

During the Objections period; they brought 15,000 objections to person who had died and or emigrated (despite the court ruling at the end of August 2019) in Regions 3, 5, 7, and 9. This too failed.

REDUCED POLLING STATIONS There was continued efforts to disenfranchise thousands of voters particularly in areas where there is majority support for the PPP/C supported.

GECOM reduced polling stations in very populated areas on the East Coast, which were mainly PPP/C strongholds, and set up stations in open fields, while increasing stations in areas where the APNU+AFC Coalition had majority support. This too failed to dissuade PPP supporters from making extra efforts to get to the polling stations to vote.

REGION 4 TABULATION The APNU+AFC Coalition moved to fight over the Region 4 tabulations (as used in the 1997 and 2001 elections) to derail the election after the nine (9) Electoral districts had been completed tabu-

lated and showed the PPP/C with a 52,000 lead.

In fact the delays experienced in those three days at the office of the Region 4 Returning Officer, Mingo, were calculated to wait for the results of the Regions the APNU+AFC Coalition expected to win such as Region 7, 8 and 10, which were not concluded until night of March 4, 2020.

The events of March 3rd, 4th and 5th during the tabulation of Region 4 haves been well documented by the International Electoral Observer Missions –the Commonwealth, the Organisation of American States (OAS), the European Union (EU), the CARICOM and the Carter Centre.

At this point the conspiracy kicked into full mode: the now infamous Mingo’s fraudulent spreadsheet result co-signed by the Chairperson of the PNC, Volda Lawrence, with the unequivocal collaboration of the Chief Election Officer hurriedly produced the results to swear in Granger President.

This was thwarted by an injunction on March 5, 2020, which stopped the declaration.The Chief Justice ruled on March 13, 2020 that Mingo must use the Statements of Poll. The Electoral District 4 was completed on Friday, March 13th, at midnight under atrocious conditions and by the next morning the CEO had the results ready to submit to the Chair of GECOM to declare Granger the winner.

CARICOM’s ROLE A factor in the conspiracy that will have to be analysed further in the future is the reasons for Granger’s approach to CARICOM. Was it due to fear of sanctions? Or did he believe that like in 1997 CARICOM would get involved in the governance issues, despite the fact that the PPP/C won those elections freely and fairly, according to the international Electoral Observer Missions? Or was he playing for more time to stay in government and allow other areas of the conspiracy to play out?

Whatever his objectives, he was clearly disturbed and upset by the June 15, 2020 Report of the CARICOM Scrutinizing Team report, which stated that the results of the recount were transparent and creditable and the PPPC won the elections.

Having signed the Aide Memoire for the recount on March 16, 2020, Granger allowed his party candidate, Ulita Moore, to go to the court to stop the recount. This again absorbs precious time. But this too fails and the court rules that the recount should proceed and GECOM is in charge of the (Turn to page 3)

3

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Race baiting is only ‘tool’ Coalition has left – Jagdeo T

he APNU+AFC Coalition’s feigned interest in areas, like Region 10, is exposed by the fact that it has no track record of delivering for Guyanese. The declaration was made by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who was responding to complaints about work being done in Linden under the current PPP/C administration.

“If you hear them talk about Linden – they absolutely love Linden and Lindeners – but they have no track record in Linden….….anything of note now in Region 10 – the new hospital or the water treatment plant – they were done under the PPP…in five

years they did very little… they were there in office; in the five years they distribute less house lots in Linden than the PPP/C did on one occasion,” he said, referring to the distribution of 400 house lots earlier this month.

The house lots were distributed in Region 10, after the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) took its ‘Dream Realised’ housing drive to the region.

The two-day event, held at the Amelia’s Ward Primary School, also saw 144 persons receiving titles and transports for their lands.

According to Jagdeo, the prevailing disposition of the

APNU+AFC, as Guyana’s Parliamentary Opposition, is not constructive since a “racist narrative” is what dominates in the Coalition camp.

He said, “We cannot, for one moment, allow this….for too long we have been quiet about it…when you examine their polices, their nature is exposed. “…I frankly do not believe that you can change the nature of, what I call, the lunatic fringe that has now occupied the seat of the Opposition. In their midst, you have people who can see nothing, but race…they have collectively agreed that racism is their most potent

tool – they must try to divide the country with the hope of making less effective the

initiatives of the PPP government. “…they can’t criticize us

The March 2020 Election Saga: Power just for... process.

FRUSTRATING THE RECOUNT During the recount from May 6, 2020 to June 9, 2020, the APNU+AFC Coalition representatives used every ballot box as an opportunity to throw drag out the process and make allegations that were unfounded and baseless.

By the end of the recount, the Coalition claimed that there were over 250,000 cases of irregularities of dead, voter impersonation and other procedural deficiencies.

It is clear now that this was done to form the basis for Lowenfield’s report to the Commission.

LOWENFIELD’S REPORT ON THE RECOUNT The Chief Elections Officer in delivering his report on the recount perpetuated the APNU+AFC Coalition’s plot.

So integral is he to the conspiracy that he defied his statutory duties as a servant of the Elections Commission, the Constitution and laws.

His report stated the results of the recount, which showed that the PPP/C won the March 2020 Elections, but then dismantles the recount for each electoral discount by disenfranchising a total of over 275,000 voters.

Lowenfield, in his report, argued that of the 460,352 votes, at the General Elections level, only 185,260 votes, could be considered as valid.

As per Lowenfield’s numbers, if only 185,260 votes, at the General Elections level, are deemed valid: • The PPP/C secured 56,627 votes • The APNU+AFC Coalition secured 125,010 votes; and • The small opposition parties received a total of 3,623 votes.

If these numbers were allowed to stand, it would mean that the APNU+AFC Coalition won the Elections by 64,760 votes – and

would be leading the PPP/C by 68,383 votes.

In essence, what Lowenfield does – by inserting his opinion in the matter – is present a twothirds victory to Granger and the APNU+AFC. He is now guilty of committing a criminal offense of electoral fraud.

LAST DITCH EFFORT In a last ditch effort to stop the Commission declaring the results on June 18, 2020, Lowenfield makes no submission of a final report – using the results of the recount, as required.

Also, two of the three APNU+AFC Coalition-nominated GECOM Commissioners were not in attendance at the GECOM meeting on Thursday (June 18, 2020), which had to be aborted due to a lack of a quorum.

Simultaneously a notice of a motion was filed in the Court of Appeal to stop the declaration.

With the Court having no jurisdiction in this matter, the outcome was clear from the start.

Two questions were put to the Appeal Court: an interpretation of the Constitution of the words “more votes cast”, which the Court said means “more valid votes”; and a question about jurisdiction to hear arguments that would ultimately aim to disenfranchise over 275,000 voters. On the latter, an appeal has been filed by the PPP/C to the CCJ. On the former, the PPP/C agrees that “more votes cast” means “more valid votes” and contends that the Certificates of Recount already determined what those valid votes are, since those legal documents state clearly the worlds “Valid Votes” and enumerate numbers showing a PPP/C victory. The APNU+AFC Coalition, of course, has a different view on this issue.

Altogether, this is the saga of the Granger-led conspiracy to steal the elections of March 2, 2020 with the clear objective to ensure that ‘by hook or by crook’, they

remain in office and in power.

POWER FOR POWER SAKE Power for power’s sake sits on quicksand, a lesson APNU+AFC Coalition ignored and felt that they could ride roughshod over the Constitution, the laws and the people of this country.

The domino structure of the conspiracy has been falling one by one. Already, the JFAP, part of the seven-party APNU+AFC Coalition, has broken ranks and called for the recount results to be used and allow for a democratic transition of government. Also, a senior AFC member, Dominic Gaskin, has come out with strong criticism of the Coalition, which is led by his father-in-law, David Granger.

Whilst the conspiracy may have succeeded in causing enormous and historic delays, it has failed at each step and did not stop the inevitable – the swearing in of the PPP/C as the new legitimate government of Guyana. Continuing the struggle at hand remains of utmost importance to allow for a democratic transition of government.

The patience and discipline of the Guyanese under extreme duress over the last 115 days, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has not gone unnoticed by the Commonwealth, the OAS, the CARICOM and the foreign missions in Guyana.

Our dogged perseverance in the face of repeated flagrant and bare-faced attempts to steal the elections on March 5th, March 13th and on June 13th, from within the machinery of the Guyana Elections Commission – the body constitutionally enshrined with protecting the right of the Guyanese electorate to vote at free, fair, transparent and credible elections – is unprecedented.

As, I look back over the years of elections growing up in Guyana with the violence of the 1960s and later rigged elections between

on the basis of – or have a debate – on a technical basis… they would, instead, all day long, wallow in this cesspool of racism….this is what they are about. They are not about country or about people.

They are just about getting back into political power. So they will use the tools available to them and the only tool available to them is racism…. this is a very selfish group of people.”

All considered, the Vice President proffered the view that the Coalition is battling a crisis of leadership and a lack of direction. As such, he called on Guyanese to be more discerning.

(From page 2)

1968-1985 and the violence in 1992, 1997 and 2001, I can proudly conclude that we as a nation have matured and learnt how fragile and delicate our emerging democracy is and we have learnt that our overwhelming overriding duty as Guyanese is to protect it, regardless of our political affiliation.

IGNOBLE FIRSTS The March 2, 2020 Electoral process has created history and for long will remain in the minds of our people, and much will be analysed and written about it for generations.

We reached some firsts in the world which I am sure we would have preferred not to: • Having no election held until for 14 months after a no-confidence motion saw a government defeated a government; • No final declaration of the elections results after 115 days; • The attempt to steal the election came from within the body tasked with overseeing the elections.

It is only under the PNC governments that we make firsts like this – firsts that we are ashamed of as a nation: having rigged elections 1968, 1973, 1980, 1985 and one referendum 1978; and being the country with the largest single event of civilian deaths in a non-conflict situation, with 900 souls being massacred at Jonestown in 1978, until September 11, 2001 attack on the New York World Trade Towers.

No longer must we be recognized as a country and people for such firsts. We want to be recognized as a people who overcame these challenges and conspiracies to steal our voice our vote and we won.

The master-minds of the conspiracy were the APNU+AFC cabal, supported by a few rogue elements in the GECOM Secretariat.

They failed. In a sense Granger-led APNU+AFC did not recognize that

much had changed since the 1980s and they miscalculated the power of the democratic will of the Guyanese people, the broad based democratic forces (previously silent) and new and young pro-democracy voices coupled with international and regional support.

In this equation, the PPP/C leadership – under its PPP General Secretary and former President, Bharrat Jagdeo – demonstrated the formidable capacity of the party’s machinery, leaders and members across the country.

LESSONS LEARNT There are many lessons that we have learnt in in the last 115-plus days; a number of critical lessons that we should not forget: 1. The struggle to preserve our democracy is a perpetual one and that it is the civic duty of each of us as citizens to protect and defend it.

2. The power of our young emerging democracy, and the very real threat to it, brought together the PPP/C, the new and small opposition parties, civil society, civic-minded and democracy lovers, with international and regional organizations as never been seen before and this must be guarded.

3. We are stronger together; we can build on this and work consciously to close the divisions caused by ethnic insecurities.

4. The young generation showed their resoluteness, resilience and courage to defend this democracy and must have a rightful place.

5. The international community is less tolerant than in the 1970s and 80s to watch and sit idly by while a country slips from the global democratic fold of global nations.

6. The social media and the media houses played a critical role in informing and exposing the many attempts to derail the elections and committed electoral thievery.

As we move forward together, the overarching fact that we must me mindful of is that we are stronger together as one people, in one nation, with a common destiny.

4

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

EDITORIAL

Never Again!

I

n a matter of days, Guyanese will mark the one-year anniversary of the five-month struggle to protect our nascent democracy from would-be election riggers.

The APNU+AFC Coalition’s tactics to seize power via electoral fraud perpetrated during the tabulation of results for Region 4, with the complicity of a select few officials of the Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), was blocked because of the vigilance of stakeholders in the electoral process – the political parties, the local Election Observer Missions, the international Election Observer Missions and the independent media corps.

Of note is that the Coalition did not challenge the pronouncement that the electoral process – up to the point of the controversial tabulation of votes for Region 4 – was free and fair. The GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh, on March 4, 2020, had said: “GECOM has delivered free, fair and credible elections.” The Coalition leader, David Granger, on March 4, 2020 had declared that: “The General and Regional Elections were free, fair and orderly.” The Coalition went as far as telling lawmakers in the United States of America, it is dossier, that: “The various comments from the observer missions convey that the voting process in the elections was well managed, peaceful, proceeded largely without incident and was free, fair and transparent. It is therefore, reasonable to conclude then that the voting process was not fraudulent.” All the while, the Coalition insisted that it won the 2020 General and Regional Elections. The protests of the APNU+AFC Coalition commenced when it was clear that they faced an electoral loss.

However, thankfully, one by one these protests – frivolous and unsubstantiated allegations – were exposed as being without any basis. That said, the extent to which the Coalition went is etched in the minds of Guyanese. We saw: • Peddling of misinformation related to the circulation of fake national identification cards; • Signatures of the PNCR Chairperson, Volda Lawrence, and Coalition activist, Carol Joseph, on manipulated declarations for Region 4, which increased votes for the APNU+AFC and decreased the votes for the PPP/C – declarations that were exposed during the national recount as manipulated; • Machinations that saw Assistant Commissioner, Edgar Thomas, being removed from his position at the GECOM Command Centre at Ashmin’s Building after he refused the instruction from Deputy Chief Election Commissioner, Roxanne Myers, to remove GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, from the building; • Barring the media from entering the GECOM’s Command Center at Ashmin’s Building; • Multiple court actions, which, among other things, scuttled multiple GECOM meetings and prevented a finalizing of the election results; • The Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield’s flouting of a court order; • The Coalition-nominated GECOM Commissioners’ efforts to push through a report from the Chief Election Officer to declare a victory for the Coalition, despite the fact that the report included manipulated numbers; • Efforts to have Giftland Mall remove the security cameras that captured parts of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), where the national recount was taking place; and • Efforts to remove GECOM Commissioner Robeson Benn from the ACCC when ballot boxes were being moved there for the national recount, among many other infractions.

In the face of this, Guyanese resisted the actions that were clearly intended to take Guyana down a path that is inconsistent with the will of the Guyanese people. Guyanese struggle, together, to ensure that the gains made in our democracy over the past two decades were not lost.

In addition to the one-year anniversary of the triumph of the struggle to protect our democracy, the PPP/C led Administration will also mark its first year in office.

The successes of the PPP/C first year in office – from delivering affordable housing to the return of direct support to Guyanese families via the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant, etc. – are in stark contrast to the five-year reign of the APNU+AFC Coalition.

In that time there was a clear and unapologetic focus by the Coalition on power, not people. This was seen, also, repeatedly in the Coalition’s use of the ‘race card’. This

GECOM ‘fraudsters’ must go Dear Editor,

I

t is time enough for the Commissioners at the Guyana Elections Commission along with the Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh to assert themselves and fully discuss the debacle pf the ‘notorious’ trio. These ‘fraudsters’ must go.

This nation must not accept any further delays and GECOM must get rid of all the suspects and unwanted elements who are employed at the Commission.

The Commission took a decision to send the trio on leave. Further, it was agreed that the motion moved against them by Commissioner Bibi Shadick, Sase Gunraj and Manoj Narine, at a statuary meeting of the Commissioners will be fully discuss and bring the matter to conclusion.

It is indeed totally disrespectful of the Opposition members of the Commission to walk out of a statuary meeting as they continue to frustrate the work of the commission in an effort to delay natural justice.

The issue of a ‘Quorum ‘must be dealt with by the Chairperson as the laws provide for such issues. Article 226 (5) of the Guyana Constitution makes provision for the absence of that quorum. While, the PNC commissioners can continue to attempt to delay the process, Article (5) (b) provides that if

at any stage of a duly summoned meeting a quorum is not present, due to the absence of members without just cause, such just cause being determined by the Chairman, the meeting shall stand adjourned to a day not later than two calendar days; the meeting shall stand adjourned to the following day, at the same time and place and notice of such adjournment shall be given to the absent members; and if at the adjourned meeting a Quorum is not present, the members then present, being not less than four including the Chairman, shall be deemed to constitute a quorum, and any decision made at that or any such meeting shall be valid in law and binding.

Local Government Elections must take place this year. GECOM is allocated a substantial amount of money to run off the Elections. Hence, GECOM must cleanse itself of the “riggers” and proceed with the preparation for the LGEs this year While Keith Lowenfield, Roxanne Myers and Clairmont Mingo are on administrative leave pending the outcome of the decision by GECOM on the motions, which seeking their dismissal, it is imperative that the Chairperson do what is expected and make sure we get free and fair LGEs. Lowenfield open defiance of Court

Orders in his deliberate attempts to fraudulently declare the APNU+AFC Coalition as winners of the March 2nd 2020 General and Regional Elections must not be condoned. The several deliberate attempts and disrespect showed

by Lowenfield to the Commission and the Chairperson in particular are enough for his immediate dismissal.

As for the deputy CEO Myers she was disrespectful to GECOM Commissioners during the electoral process and she brought this nation into disrupt when she threatened the international Election Observers, including the head of the Commonwealth Mission Owen Arthur.

As for Mingo mere words cannot adequately described his atrocious behavior. However, we must not forget that he resides in Region #5 and he is a permanent staff of GECOM who was catapulted to Region # 4 as the Regional Officer. The public are complaining about his activities in West Berbice.

All eyes are on GECOM and expectations are high that the Madam Chairperson will assert her authority and bring and early end to the impasse at the GECOM next statuary meeting.

Dismiss the ‘trio’ now.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

PPP/C Government continues to deliver on promises made Dear Editor,

T

he PPP/C Government has been fulfilling its 2020 campaign promises on a continuous basis since assuming office is August 2020, and neither the COVID-19 pandemic nor the devastating floods can put a brake to the PPP/C’s developmental momentum, which has become an accepted norm in Guyana.

May I add another epidemic to these two, one which is attempting to frustrate this great developmental thrust -the useless Opposition.

The heartless closure of the Estates –

Wales, Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon – brought untold pain, misery and suffering to over 7,000 persons and their families.

Those directly affected would approximate to nearly 40,000. The domino effect did account for more than 60,000, since all businesses in the environs of these estates were severely affected and had to lay off employees.

New Amsterdam and Corriverton became ghost towns, and there was an upsurge of social ills. Many students had to drop out of school, since their parents were catapulted into immediate poverty.

This worsened the situation, since the

tactic, admittedly, is unsurprising. The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), which is the majority partner in the Coalition, has played on ethnic insecurities of our people since the 1960s. The race card has always been the ‘ace in the pocket’, which PNC/APNU/AFC has flashed to keep their supporters in line. This is how they sustained the elite cabal for five years and sustained the illusion of uplifting the wellbeing and welfare of Afro-Guyanese. The Coalition lost the 2020 elections because they did nothing for Guyanese in general; they did not enhance the quality of life and wealth of Afro-Guyanese, except for a small elite group. It is, now, beyond a doubt that the PNC-led APNU+AFC Coalition has always been about power and not about the Guyanese people and this is, unfortunately, unlikely to change.

That said, all Guyanese are encouraged to look beyond the façade of the Coalition and recognise that it is only together,

callous Coalition had removed the Cash Grant which had assisted parents to send their children to school.

Imagine, the AFC trio of Ramjattan, Cathy Hughes and Sherod Duncan were on the Alliance on the Move programme last Saturday condemning the Government’s reintroduction of that grant, when parents across the country are so happy for this great help at a time when they are confronted with not one, but two national crises.

This grant will increase each year, and the parents have confidence in the (Turn to page 5)

as a people, that we will prosper. Guyanese have to move forward together for the simple reason that we are stronger together. It must be noted that the PPP/C Administration’s successes have come despite the fact Guyana is battling the COVID-19 pandemic and has been tasked with responding to other national emergencies, in particular, the countrywide flooding that has affected some 51,000 households. Guyanese have much more to look forward to as the current administration works towards the fulfillment of the Party’s 2020-2025 manifesto and ensuring that the ‘Plan for Prosperity’ is delivered, in order to benefit every single Guyanese – regardless who they voted for.

As a people, we must also send a clear signal to undemocratic elements that never again will they be allowed to hold our nation hostage for the sake of selfish personal and political motives. Never again!

5

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

PPP/C demonstrates commitment to academic advancement of our children Dear Editor,

T

he PPP/C government began disbursing its “Because We Care” Cash Grant and the School Uniform and Supplies Grant for children in the public school system last week in Region 10, which demonstrated the PPP/C Administration’s sincerity towards academic growth of Guyana’s children.

Because We Care grant is valued at $15,000 this year and the School Uniform and Supplies Grant is valued at $4,000, amounting to a total of $19,000 for each child in the public education system with consideration is being given to extending the initiative to students in the private school system.

PPP/C has always honored its commitment, Because We Care was a commitment made PPP/C political party to the people of Guyana on the campaign trail. Today it is a reality to the people of region # 10 and every Guyanese, that the PPP/C Government will always honor its commitment to the people of Guyana, will continue to do so over the next four years, fulfilling every promise made on the campaign trail.

After taking office in 2015, the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) Government, discontinued the grant the original ‘Because We Care’ project, which the PPP/C in 2014 and displaced thousands of students and parents in the process.

What is applauding here there is no discrimination with the PPP/C Government’s ‘‘Because We Care’ cash grant programme” Whether you’re African, Chinese, Indo-Guyanese, Amerindian, Portuguese, mixed, or whether you are Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Rastafarian, nothing, or Baháí, once your children are in school, they would receive the “ because we care cash grant”.

Every single nursery, primary, secondary age child who’s in a public school, or applied to go to a public school this grant “is for you”.

What is amazing the PPP/C is not limiting we the parent, telling us what we must do and what we mustn’t do with our money and anybody who believes that they know better than we the parents what our children need is someone who’s fooling themselves… this money is for anything that will serve our children. The vision of “because we care cash grant” will take a domino effect, transforming region #10 economy a total of $220 million will be distributed for 11,600 students in Region Ten, representing a significant cash influx in the region’s economy. It will create more financial wealth for our communities, rebounding the region to create job opportunities, generating growth by putting money in every community.

Our PPP/C Government might not be able to do everything we may want, but they continue to lend support where ever it is needed, this shows all of us as parents that we are having a real partnership, Government and family for the education of our children.

Our President and his Ministers believe in our children, they all believe an educated nation is a nation on its way to development and prosperity, and they believe that the most precious resource in Guyana is neither oil, gold ,bauxite or the forest the most important resource is human resources.

Residents of regions #10 we have all seen so many manifesto promises fulfilled by the PPP/C Administration over the past eleven months. While the country is changing rapidly, His Excellency Dr. Irfaan Ali, in his 2021 budget, outlined massive infrastructure plans and over the next four years, when infrastructure is expanded, new opportunities that will

be created in all sectors some of which region #10 has already experienced I am proud to say that President Ali and his PPP/C Government have shown every Guyanese including region #10, how much they all care for the people of Guyana, in every aspect of development, let take a look at what they have done for the people of Guyana and (region #10 at large.)

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C Government has distributed some 3,600 house lots in 2020 to applicants across Guyana; this is more than half of the amount that was distributed by A Partnership for National Unity Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition during their five-year in office. In a recent two days initiative as a part of the PPP/C Dream Realised’ Housing Drive allowing approximately 400 Lindeners closer to owning their own homes when the CH&PA visited the mining town. In addition to the allocations, 144 persons were expected to receive their Certificate of Titles.

The two-day initiative held at the Amelia’s Ward Primary School saw hundreds of Lindeners attending in hopes of being allocated a house lot, there is currently a backlog of 4,000 applications in the system for Linden alone, although Region #10 is not a People’s Progressive Party/Civic stronghold, it must be cleared that the PPP/C is working for every residents in region #10 and resident should not resist these opportunities for development. We must all take advantage of these opportunities for sustainable development When you receive these opportunities and you take these opportunities that your PPP/C offer to you, “note” you are not doing us a favour, you are helping yourself to improve and develop your own lives, elevating your standard of living and providing a better future for your children, developing our communities, our Region and our country.

In addition to the allocation drives, CH&PA will commence the construction of 40 houses in a few weeks the realization of the first set of houses that will be constructed as part of the 1,000 homes that President Ali had promised to afford Lindeners before the end of 2021. Clearing of lands for this project has commenced creating widespread job opportunities for Lindeners that skilled workers, such as block makers can tap into this project.

Relative to house lots, there are systems in place to give allottees the full package

PPP/C Government continues to deliver... promises made by the PPP/C. This ‘Because We Care’ initiative assists everyone, unlike the Granger Bs, which were accessible only to the Coalition’s supporters.

No Government worth its salt would ever create such a wilful devastation to the lives of its people, and that happened without providing for the inevitable socio-economic fallout. But the Coalition were out for revenge, and were not satisfied with a pound of flesh; they went for the vitals. They wanted to cut the jugular vein of the PPP/C, since sugar workers were maliciously deemed to be PPP/C supporters.

Ironically, the Coalition destroyed themselves, since their criminal intent became clear for all to behold, and they will never again be

trusted.

One of the promises of the PPP/C on the campaign trail, and enshrined in its manifesto, was to reopen the shuttered estates and to bring back socio-economic progress in those area by re-employing the severed workers. This began in earnest just after the swearing in of the PPP/C Government, and an allocation of $3 billion for the reopening of Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon was made, not without the usual condemnation from the Coalition.

The reopening process began at Rose Hall in September 2020, and to date nearly 500 persons have been re-employed in mostly the field and factory and to some extent the other departments. But today is a historic day for Rose Hall

when they purchase a house lot. This includes all necessary infrastructure and amenities to live comfortably.

Millions of dollars will be expended to upgrade the water system in Linden to meet the growing population.

The housing drive also gave Lindeners the opportunity interacts with officials and engage representatives from banks and other agencies that are involved in the construction industry.

This has been the PPP/C Government third ‘Dream Realised’ initiative that was rolled out and over 5,000 house lots have been allocated thus far. The goal, the PPP/C government is to allocate 50,000 house lots over the next five years.

How can one ever forget when the COVID- 19 pandemic began to spread in region 10 and across Guyana and people were forced to stay at home, workers were losing their jobs, healthcare system were being stressed, local businesses were at risk of closing permanently and the country was bracing for recession crisis has laid bare the inequities and injustices that threaten people’s well-being, safety, and lives. Amidst these uncertain and challenging times, we were asking and answering: How can the nation respond in the short term to keep all people safe and the economy afloat? The PPP/C Administration then stepped to the plate and answered the questions for residents of Region #10 with the launching of the Government’s COVID-19 relief and support programme, the $25,000 Household Grant. A programme that all Lindeners had embraced which had provided more for many residents, with financial assistance for rent, food and utilities during the ongoing pandemic.

Our economy and democracy would be impossible without an educated, skilled populace, offering 25,000 free online scholarship’s all Guyanese must be considered this as a blessing. Our government patient care has become a priority for all stakeholders and health care providers with the overall objective of achieving a high degree of patient satisfaction in region #10 and across this nation, many of us owe our lives- literally — to the government. The greatest advances in longevity are due to public-sanitation measures taken during this COVID -19 pandemic.

Sincerely, David Adams

(From page 4)

Estate, when close to 200 workers were offered employment at a “One Stop Shop” employment drive which saw persons from the communities nearby going through the employment process.

Never were so many persons employed in any given day. They thronged the entrance of the Estate as early as 6 a.m. There was happiness in the air, and the beaming faces told the story.

Soon they will again live with dignity and self-respect. The re-employment will continue until the grinding operation commences in October 2021. It was a crying shame just last week to listen to the AFC Trio on the Alliance on the Move programme, again referring to GUYSUCO as the ‘dark hole’. They should have been at Rose Hall on this day to tell the re-employed

workers that.

They must not hide in a TV station, they must face the people directly; and then they will experience what lepers went through in the biblical days. Well, I must say that they have been in leper-like self-isolation, and have been hiding behind the social media and the TV for some time now.

I must congratulate the PPP/C Government for continuing to deliver on their promises, despite so many adverse conditions. It is a manifestation of great, patriotic leadership and commitment to serve the people of Guyana.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

6

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy July 14th…

July 14th…

Police investigating fire at Abandoned GDF building set on fire A GECOM’s Linden office A

fire at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officer in Wismar, Linden, Region 10, is being investigated by the Guyana Police Force.

The fire, suspected to be arson, at the building rented

by GECOM, took place in the early morning hours of July 14, 2020.

Reports are that the fire was spotted by a female security guard, who was in a security hut at the front of the building, after she heard an explosion at the back of the building. Upon checking, she reported that she saw two males running west into First Alley, Wismar, and the upper flat of the building

on fire.

Fire tenders were quickly summoned on scene. Investigations are in progress. The firefighters, attached to the Linden Fire Station, were able to contain the blaze to the upper flat. They were also able to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

n early morning fire damaged an abandoned Guyana Defence Force (GDF) base at Maria’s Lodge, Region 2 (Pomeroon/ Supenaam).

Reports are that swift actions by Radar Security personnel, prevented the spread of a fire, which was set to the GDF building sometime

around 03:30hour on July 14, 2020. The security guard, who was stationed at the Maria’s Lodge Nursery school, observed smoke emanating from the abandoned building and immediately contacted the Anna Regina Fire Department.

The fire department later arrived on the scene and

managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread further.

According to reports, the fire was set to the two ends of the building, as two stacks of newspapers were found in the said locations.

Investigations by the Guyana Police Force are ongoing.

July 12th…

Arson attempt at Umana Yana July 14th…

Suspected arson at Anna Regina’s A CID office

A

fire was set to the Guyana Police Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office at Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, some time between 5:00hours and

5:30hours on July 14, 2020.

The act is suspected to be arson.

Police investigations into the matter are ongoing.

n attempt was made to set fire to the Umana Yana on July 12, 2020.

Reports are that the effort was foiled after a security guard raised an alarm. The guard reported seeing a man running away from the scene.

Further, it has been reported that the would-be

arsonist threw a flammable object towards the structure’s roof, which is made from thatched troolie palm leaves.

No one has been arrested.

The Umana Yana was destroyed by fire in 2014, which was suspected to be electrical. The historic structure was reconstructed at a

cost of $66.7M and involved the efforts of over 30 Wai Wai men from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

The structure was originally built by Amerindians in 1972 over a period of 80 days and cost $26,000 at that time.

June 30th…

Jagdeo puts Granger on blast for obfuscation of facts T

he APNU+AFC Coalition leader, David Granger, advanced a campaign of obfuscation during his most recent interview on June 29, 2020, according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo.

During a virtual news conference on Tuesday (June 30, 2020), he said, “So much of what he (Granger) said was factually wrong and, in many cases, downright misleading.”

He underscored the fact that Granger failed to acknowledge the electoral fraud perpetrated by the Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, where he inflated the votes for the APNU+AFC Coalition by over 19,000 and reduced the votes for the PPP/C by over 3,000 – a fact that was confirmed by the national recount. “We have a declaration signed by Mingo, which is at odds with the Region 4 Certificate of Recount…in those documents, it has been demonstrated factually, mathematically, that Mingo inflated the figures in favour of APNU,” Jagdeo said.

Also ignored by Granger, according to him, is the fact that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, willingly moved ahead with the fraudulent numbers

from Mingo and even went as far as preparing his ‘final’ report for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair and Commissioners.

“There is documentary evidence about that fraud,” he said.

Granger, he added, also ignored the fact that Lowenfield in his latest report to the GECOM Chair and Commissioners, on June 23, 2020, moved to disenfranchise over 115,000 Guyanese voters.

The PPP General Secretary said, “I am tempted to ask Mr. Granger, if it was the other way around, if APNU would have accepted this…

Lowenfield has no authority to invalidate one vote, much less over 115,000 votes… they would have never accepted this….there would have been trouble on the streets already.”

The PPP General Secretary noted that the pattern of Granger’s actions have left little faith that he will honour the things he commits to – walk the proverbial talk. “He says one thing and then he goes and does the complete opposite of his public declarations,” Jagdeo said.

CONFUSION Notably, Granger during the June 29, 2020 interview, said, “We have publicly stated that we support the Elec-

tions Commission, both the Chairman and the Chief Elections Officer, and we are prepared to live by the outcome.

Once the Chairman makes a declaration, which I hope is soon, we will abide by that declaration…the Commission is bound to accept the report of the Chief Elections Officer. He is the Authority.

There is no other authority to prepare such a report. He is mandated to prepare a report – the report will include the tabulation and the validation in the form of observation.

And if the Observation shows that there has been corruption, he is obligated to make such a report. That report has to go to the Commission for review and we expect a declaration, which is going to be acceptable to all of Guyana and to the international community. That is where we are.

The process is in the hands of the Commission. I cannot intervene at this stage. I have not intervened before and I will not intervene now.”

Referring to this comment, the PPP General Secretary agreed that the decision on a final declaration of election results is in the hands of GECOM. “The Commission is the only constitutional body that can make the decision and the declaration of the results,” he said.

However, he pointed out

that Granger misleads when he comments on the powers of the Chief Elections Officer. Jagdeo said, “He (Granger) seems a bit confused about the two reports…there seems to be some confusion in his mind about the report that should be produced as required by and in accordance with the (Recount) Order, which says that the Chief Elections Officer must produce a report, tabulating valid votes casts – that is the Certificates of the Recount from all 10 Regions – along with summaries for the 10 Regions of the Observation Report and then the Commission will review this; and the final report. “…the report, based on the Recount Order, is in contrast with the final report… the final report he (Lowenfield) has to produce based on the instructions of the Commission. “…that report, based on the Recount Order, was produced and it showed that the PPP/C won the Elections… the Commission discussed this – they did review the report – and Justice Singh made it clear that she has no authority to annul the elections, she could not invalidate any vote – because that can only be done through an Elections Petition in the High Court –and she instructed

Lowenfield to prepare his final report, which is the calculation of seats each party won, using the recount data.

A decision has already been made by the Commission to use the recount data….

Lowenfield, a statutory officer, has refused to comply with that instruction.”

Jagdeo made clear that the Commission – the GECOM Chair and the six GECOM Commissioners – is not obligated to accept a fraudulent report from Lowenfield. “Mr. Granger should know that Lowenfield is not a constitutional officer….he was never appointed through a constitutional process…he is a statutory officer. He is hired by the Commission, the constitutional body “….so what he is essentially saying is that the constitutional body must lose all of its authority, which it exercised when it instructed Lowenfield to prepare the final report using the recount data, and they must subject themselves to a fraudulent report…he is saying GECOMM must rubber stamp Lowenfield’s report…. the constitutional body has already made the decision to use the recount data, Mr. Granger. Lowenfield is subjected to directions from this body. He doesn’t stand above the Commission.”

The PPP General Secretary pointed to provisions in the law, which makes it clear that Lowenfield is subject to the directions of the Commission to support his position.

Section 18 of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act 2000 states that: “The Chief Election Officer and the Commission of Registration shall notwithstanding anything in any written law be subject to the direction and control of the Commission.”

Also, the Recount Order states clearly that: “For the avoidance of any doubt, the Chief Election Officer and every person appointed or authorized to perform any act or functions by virtue of this Order, are and shall remain subject to the general supervisory power of the Commission.”

Further, the Constitution at Article 162(1)(b) clearly states that: “The that the Election Commission shall issue such instructions and take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or of any Act of Parliament on the part of persons exercising powers or performing duties connected with or relating to the matters aforesaid (i.e. the administrative conduct of (Turn to page 16)

7

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy Undermining Guyana’s democratic standing means severe impacts on development, more – Ali G

uyana’s image and standing as a democratic nation “took a beating” over the last 18 months, according to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) , Irfaan Ali, during a virtual interview, where he addressed the current state of affairs.

And he contends that unless this is addressed there are impacts for Guyana’s relations with other democratic nations, which are important development partners.

Ali said, “In the last year and a half, since the passing of the no-confidence motion, our image took a beating… the image of a country is important for stability “…we have to ensure that we convey to the international community that we take seriously the rule of law, democracy and constitutional rule; that we take seriously the international charters that we have signed…when we say we live in a global village and are part of a global community, it means something. “…we have representatives of various countries here in Guyana who are our development partners…we cannot act in a manner that damages those relations.”

DEVELOPMENT AT RISK At least one developmental partner, the European

Union (EU) has warned that if democracy is derailed then Guyana could face crippling sanctions from the 27-member European Union.

The European Union’s Ambassador to Guyana, Fernando Ponz-Cantó, during a televised interview on May 8, 2020, said, “The window of opportunity has not closed. It is not the time yet to put forward that proposal [for sanctions] because the situation can still be remedied democratically. But, if situations like these are not remedied democratically, then the EU has the duty and the determination to act according to the principles we share… one of those principles, and perhaps the most important one, is democracy. If anybody does not recognize the democratic provisions, there will be a suspension of the cooperation,” he said, adding that several African countries and Haiti have been subjected to this before.”

The EU Ambassador to Guyana noted that the European Union has not shied away from imposing sanctions against offending countries in the past. He said, “We have done it, unfortunately, quite a few times in Africa – I was involved in several of those processes – we did it once in the Caribbean in Haiti several years

ago, and if there is a breach of democracy, we will have to do it because we are bound by those provisions.”

According to PonzCantó, the European Union and Guyana have “massive” development cooperation and that could be “interrupted” if the democratic process of elections is scuttled. He said, “We have a huge amount of cooperation with Guyana.

I would hate it personally to see that interrupted…the suspension of cooperation is only one of the possibilities because we – like the U.S, Canada and Britain – have a system of sanctions which includes assets freeze, visa suspension, and all the typical tools. This is something we don’t like to use, I won’t like to use, and I hope we won’t have to use.”

Ponz-Cantó stressed the need for the electoral process to be concluded in a democratic, fair, credible and transparent manner, since any other action would force the hand of the European Union to invoke sanctions as provided for in the Cotonou Agreement. “If there is a breach of democracy, we will have to do it, because we are bound by those provisions…this situation can still be remedied democratically,” he said.

WARNING SOUNDED

Ali underscored the fact that Guyana is also part of several organisations and those relations cannot be undermined. He pointed to the United Nation (UN), the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Commonwealth and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Notably, already, the former Prime Minister of Barbados and Chairman of the Commonwealth Election Observer Mission for the March 2020 Elections, Owen Arthur, warned about Guyana’s possible suspension from CARICOM is there is not a democratic transition of government. Earlier this month, Arthur said, “Caribbean countries, including Guyana, have signed a Charter for Civil Society which enjoins upon them the responsibility to have free and fair elections. It would, therefore, be entirely contrary to the provisions of the Charter for Civil Society for CARICOM countries to stand by if an election is being stolen…leaders of CARICOM as a class would rather free and fair elections [and] if the government does not want to accept the results and still wants to stay in office then CARICOM will have to decide whether to suspend Guyana…Guyana cannot benefit from having itself

portrayed as a pariah state, as a rogue state. There will be consequences…Guyana cannot withstand the ire of the international community.”

The PPP/C presidential candidate stressed that all stakeholders in Guyana have a role to play in ensuring that Guyana’s standing among the democratic fold of nations is not damaged, irreversibly.

WILL OF PEOPLE MUST PREVAIL Ali charged that the will of the Guyanese cannot be subverted. The will of the people, according to him, was evident at the end of a 34-day national recount process, which showed that the PPP/C won the elections by over 15,000 votes.

“The world and every democratic force are on the same page; that is that they accept that the results of the national recount are acceptable and that the results of the recount must form the basis on which a declaration (of final election results) must be made. That declaration must be made,” he said.

The PPP/C presidential candidate charged that it is “unfortunate” that the APNU+AFC Coalition actions to date. “I am sure their supporters, majority of them, do not agree with the current state of affairs.

And for them (the Coalition) to continue to play psychological games with their supporters is not right; for them to try to derail an entire elections and change the narrative is insulting to all the stakeholders and all Guyanese….I want to appeal to all APNU+AFC Coalition supporters to understand the reality and understand the facts of what took place…we are in a situation where we have a group of people who are trying to take away the rights from people and are trying to impose themselves on this country,” Ali said.

Once the legal matters are settled, he charged that the will of the majority of the electorate must be respected. “Whilst the majority of the electorate elected the PPP/C as their next government, as your president and as someone who will be leading the next government, I want to assure you, every single supporter of every other party, that this country must work for all of us…the policies and programmes that we pursue will be in the interest of every Guyanese, equally. There is nothing to be afraid of. Don’t allow the propaganda and the misinformation that a few are trying to use to divide our society to ever succeed,” Ali declared.

June 19th…

Coalition actions suggested that it has ‘no intention of relinquishing control of government’ – Gaskin

S

upporters of the APNU+AFC Coalition are being fooled by the party and misled into thinking that the Coalition won the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, according to Dominic Gaskin in comments on June 19, 2020.

Gaskin is an Executive member of the AFC and sonin-law of the Coalition Leader, David Granger.

He said, “Having said what I had to say back in March, and having then stayed silent for three months while the recount was agreed, challenged and finally executed, I can no longer wait quietly and politely while our country gets hijacked, ridiculed and torn apart.

“In a nutshell, there are six things I would like to elaborate on concerning the 2020

elections adventure: A win by either of the major contestants ought not to have come as a shock to anyone; supporters of the APNU+AFC were misled into believing that the coalition had won the election; there was then a deliberate attempt to discredit the entire elections; no evidence has been provided to support the claim of vast numbers of rejected ballots among those of the disciplined services, let alone the allegation of a deliberate attempt to invalidate the votes of the disciplined services.”

Gaskin lamented that “no power on earth”can convince the APNU+AFC leadership that it lost the election. However, he stressed that the Coalition should understand that they were not elected in 2015 to “remain in office forever” and there is no reasonable ba-

sis for insisting that they won the elections.

He said, “There is no reasonable basis on which you can claim to have won more votes than the PPP-C in these elections. Level with your supporters and start directing your energies towards becoming a credible opposition party in time for 2025. Above all, try to regain the trust of the swing voter. You will never win another election without their support. “…having paid close attention to the tabulated results of the 2020 elections, and having done some projections of my own, I knew by Wednesday, March 4th, that a Coalition victory, while still possible, was unlikely. …I was not particularly concerned when I heard the first reports of a ‘spreadsheet’

being used by Mr. (Clairmont) Mingo. However, when I heard the actual numbers that he finally declared, I became deeply suspicious. There was no way his numbers could have been correct. Much to my disappointment, the leaderships of both APNU and the AFC claimed that Mingo’s numbers were consistent with our own Statements Of Poll.

They also insisted that a final declaration be made on the basis of those numbers, and supported the court action to prevent a recount. The recount went ahead and the results showed clearly that Mingo’s numbers could not have been based on actual Statements Of Poll.

“At the very least APNU+AFC’s supporters deserve an explanation from its leadership as to the basis on

which they claimed to have won the election prior to the recount.”

The AFC member pointed out that the CARICOM team, tasked with reporting on the national recount process, endorsed the elections and the results of the recount. “The claims of fraud were grossly exaggerated and, unfortunately, designed to fool party supporters, who had placed their faith in the coalition, into believing that there was actual evidence of serious elections rigging by the PPP/C,” Gaskin said.

He added, “The claim that vast numbers of disciplined services ballots were deliberately not stamped, and therefore rejected, is a case in point.

The so-called intermixing stations are known, and it is a fairly simple task to sum up all

the unstamped rejected ballots in those stations to support the allegation. This, however, was not done and the ominous suggestion was left to torment the minds of the men and women responsible for the defence and protection of our country and its citizens.”

The “uncomfortable” conclusion, given all that has transpired, according to Gaskin, is that the APNU+AFC Coalition “has no intention of relinquishing control” of government.

Given the protracted delay in the finalizing of the results from the March 2020 Elections and the events since March 4, 2020, Gaskin surmised that it will be “extremely difficult” for the Coalition to defeat the PPP/C at the next General and Regional Elections in 2025.

8

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy June 18th…

May 28th…

Application filed to block final Granger uses state media to declaration of Election Results complain about being cited for ‒ Lowenfield refuses to submit his final report

A

n application was filed with the Appeal Court to block the final declaration of Election results by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The case was filed in the name of Eslyn David by Attorney-at-Law, Mayo Robertson.

REFUSING TO COMPLY However, while ordered by the Chair of GECOM, retired Justice Claudette Singh, to present his final report to the Commission by 13:00hours on June 18, 2020 the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, is using application to the court to refuse to comply.

GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward, said Lowenfield was served with a Notice of Motion before 13:00hrs, the deadline for submission of his report.

According to her, the Notice restrains the CEO from “complying with the directions of Chairperson” and as a consequence, a report was not submitted.

As of 15:00hours on Thursday (June 18, 2020), the matter was not heard by the court and no date or time was fixed for hearing.

However, Attorney-at-Law and GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, in a brief comment said, “No injunction has been granted against the CEO, Chairman or GECOM. An application has been filed seeking several orders, but no injunction has been granted. There is no impediment to moving forward.”

Further, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive, Anil Nandlall, said, “This is a nuisance-value litigation. It has absolutely no prospects of success. It raises no serious questions of law. It is absolutely frivolous and vexatious and will be dismissed.

“It is filed by one lawyer, who hardly has a practice in Guyana. It must be ignored by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The nation’s important business cannot be stalled on the basis of such legal frivolity.

It confirms APNU/AFC’s pandemonium!

“It is simply designed to stall and must be rejected by GECOM. The Chairperson, an experienced former Court of Appeal Judge, would clearly see it for what it is: specious, wholly without merit and an abuse of the process of the Court.”

Additionally, the PPP on Thursday warned Lowenfield of jail time. “Any report prepared without using the totals of the valid votes cast, which he has already submitted to the Commission, would amount to a conspiracy to commit electoral fraud at Common Law, a most grievous offence, which can attract a severe a penalty as life imprisonment. Those who are in the conspiracy with him are exposed to the same criminal liabilities,” the PPP said, adding that the results of the recount must be used to form the basis of Lowenfield’s final report.

Importantly, Section 22 (1) of the Representation

of the People’s Act states clear that: “If any difficulty arises in connection with the application of this Act,the Representation of People's Act, or the National Registration Act or any relevant subsidiary legislation, the Commission shall, by order, make any provision including the amendment of the said legislation, that appears to the Commission to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty; and any such order may modify any of the said legislation in respect of any particular matter or occasion, so far as may appear to the Commission to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty.”

This means that GECOM can act, in the current state of affairs.

MEETING CANCELLED By 16:00hours, GECOM cancelled its meeting.

There was no quorum for the meeting to take place after APNU+AFC Coalition-nominated GECOM Commissioners left the GECOM office.

GECOM’s Public Relations Officer disclosed that the application filed to block the final declaration of results has been set for hearing. She said, “Please be advised that due to the hearing of the Notice of Appeal tomorrow (Friday, June 19, 2020) at 13:30hrs, the Commission will no longer meet at 13:00hrs as planned.”

The GECOM Chair has not made any public on this latest development.

June 9th…

Region 4 recount confirms massive manipulation of tabulation by Mingo to favour APNU+AFC

T

he completed recount of votes from Region 4, which were cast in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, exposed the fact that the Returning Officer, did, in fact, manipulate the results he presented on March 13, 2020.

Mingo manipulated over 22,000 votes in Region 4 – inflating the APNU+AFC

Coalition voted by over 19,000 and decreasing the PPP/C votes by over 3,000.

In 145 examples, where comparisons were made of Statements of Poll, Statements of Recount and the declarations made by Mingo, it showed that the votes for APNU+AFC was inflated by 7,644 votes. On the other hand, the votes for the People’s Progressive

Party/ Civic (PPP/C) were reduced by 753.

The 4,495 and 753 numbers were arrived at comparing Mingo’s numbers and the Statements of Recount.

Region 4 has 285,681 registered voters and for the March 2020 General and Regional Elections there were 879 polling places, meaning 879 Ballot Boxes.

election rigging A PNU+AFC Coalition leader, David Granger, opted to use a state media platform to complain about being named as a party to electoral fraud. However, he remains silent on a number of questions relating to events involving officials of the APNU+AFC Coalition, which led up to two fraudulent declarations being made by the Region 4 Returning Officer in favour of the APNU+AFC Coalition This week on the APNU+AFC Coalition-controlled National Communications Network (NCN), Granger, also leader of

the PNCR – the majority partner in the APNU+AFC Coalition – said, “I really resent the allegations of rigging and hypocrisy and unlawful behaviour, which have been leveled against me personally and against my Government… I have not done anything wrong.”

The Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, made two fraudulent declarations. One on March 5, 2020 – signed by the PNCR Chair, Volda Lawrence – that was invalidated by the High Court because he failed to follow electoral law. The second was

made on March 13, 2020, was signed by the PNCR’s Carol Joseph, which caused much controversy and led to a national recount exercise being started.

The international community has been united in dismissing the March 13, 2020 declaration by Mingo as fraudulent.

The March 13, 2020 fraudulent declaration by Mingo increased the APNU+AFC Coalition votes by over 19,000, when the numbers from the Statements of Polls were examined for all 879 polling places in Region 4.

May 27th…

APNU+AFC’s lies about dead persons voting exposed T he one death certificate that was produced by the APNU+AFC Coalition to support its claim that scores of dead persons voted at the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and related comments has been exposed as a lie.

The claim was initially made in a Guyana Chronicle article on May 20, 2020 – headlined ‘’Coalition provides proof of dead persons voting’ – and the report included the death certificate of Chitnandani Ramdass. The report cited comments from a APNU+AFC Coalition counting agent, Ganesh Mahipaul, who said, “From ballot box 210, serial number 257 was registered as 81-year-old Chitnandani Ramdass, but the party has a death certificate confirming that Ramdass died on June 6, 2015.”

The Coalition essentially claimed that Ramdass’ name was ticked off on the Official List of Electors use by the Polling Clerk at the polling station and claimed that this meant that a dead person voted.

However, People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) candidate, Deodat Indar, has sine made public the Observation Report for the station recounting

ballots from Ballot Box 2107 from polling station, 221223A, at Mariah’s Hall Nursery School. The Official List of Electors use by the Polling Clerk showed clearly that Ramdass’ name was not ticked off.

The presence of the dead woman’s name on the Official List of Electors has been attributed to a possible oversight by the General Registrar’s Office (GRO). The GRO, on a monthly basis, send details for persons who died to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) so that those names can be removed from the National Register of Registrants Database.

GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward had explained that the Commission had a system in place where the Guyana Registry Office would supply them with monthly reports of all deaths within the reporting period. She said, “The accuracy at which those reports reach us is something I will not be able to pronounce on but we do have a system in place where the GRO provides us with a monthly death report….we also have cases too where there are persons who may die but their deaths are not

registered at all or possibly not registered at that time so we also have to consider those factors.”

Meanwhile, Ramdass’ family is looking to advance a legal challenge over the unauthorized access by the APNU+AFC Coalition to her death certificate.

Despite having been exposed for false claims, t h e A P N U + A F C C o a l ition is persisting with its position that dead persons voted.

However, in a new twist, the Coalition’s Aubrey Norton, said none of the dead persons they claimed voted did so in any of the APNU+AFC Coalition strongholds. Norton on Wednesday (May 27, 2020) said, “When you call the names of the dead, they didn’t vote in APNU+AFC strongholds.” According to him, staffers hired by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), including Presiding Officers (POs), in certain areas are compromised. This is a new claim, as no such complaint has ever been raised by the Coalition.

GECOM, in the meantime, has made clear that the claims being made have to be supported by evidence.

9

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy May 22nd…

May 13th…

Coalition exposed for lying ‘Transparent effort’ was made to alter 2020 Election results – Bruce Golding about unstamped ballots T T he ongoing national recount saw bizarre actions by the APNU+AFC Coalition representatives last Friday (May 22, 2020).

Claims about a number of “unstamped ballots” were made about a ballot box at a Sophia polling station. However, the ballot box being referred to, Box

number 4549, was not even re-opened for recounting.

On its Facebook page, the Coalition said, “Breaking news: Sophia Nursery School, at the lower level polling station L-Z 41333Ciii, our agent found 61 unstamped ballots (INVALID). PO (Presiding Officer) failed to stamp.

Developing story, details to follow.”

The post invited backlash about the APNU+AFC Coalition’s clear intention to derail the recount process.

Shortly after the post was made, it was removed from the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Facebook Page.

May 19th…

Coalition’s agent admits to not having evidence of migrant voters

T

he APNU+AFC Coalition’s Leonard Craig has made a startling admission – that the Coalition has been submitting departure dates for scores of Guyanese registered to vote as the basis for their claim that persons who migrated voted at the March 2, 2020 Elections.

The allegation of migrant voter, however, does not factor in return dates.

Craig, when pressed, stated that the APNU+AFC Coalition’s practice was to present departure dates and times, coupled with allegations that the persons never returned in time for the March 2020 Elections. According to him, it was up to GECOM to then investigate those claims made by the APNU+AFC Coalition.

This admission followed several claims that have al-

ready been disproved.

An agent representing the APNU+AFC Coalition, Colin Bynoe, claimed that 24 persons who migrated voted in the March 2020 Elections.

The objection was made in relation to Ballot Box 5055, from Beladrum Secondary, Region 5, and recorded in the Observation Report that was compiled during the recount. However, when that recount of the Ballot Box was completed it showed that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) only secured three votes – meaning that the Coalition’s agent was objecting about votes that the Coalition received, given that APNU+AFC won 250 votes from that ballot box.

Further, a list signed by an APNU+AFC agent detailed five voters, on the Official List of Electors, and

alleged dates of departure from Guyana, with a claim that these persons migrated, but supposedly voted. This claim was made in relation to Ballot Box 6007. However, at least two persons on that list have rejected the Coalition’s claims. Husband and wife, Aubrey Augustus Nicholson and Shirley Ann Nicholson have publicly indicated that they were in Guyana on Election Day and voted at a Sister’s Village Primary School polling station –then proceeded to spend the rest of the day home with their grandchildren.

Meanwhile, at least one APNU+AFC Coalition has admitted that the Party has no evidence to substantiate its claims.

Of all the claims made about migrant voting, no evidence have been provided.

May 28th…

Coalition on campaign to discredit electoral process, after claiming victory

T

he APNU+AFC Coalition has embarked on a campaign to attack the credibility of the electoral process.

The electoral process includes: voting; the count and preparation of the Statements of Polls (SOPs) that are signed off by representatives of the contesting political parties; the tabulation of all the SOPs in a Region by the Region’s Returning Officer, who then makes a declaration of results for the Region; and a final declaration of Election Results.

The consensus from all the political parties and the international and local Election Observer Missions is that voting, the count and preparation of the Statements of Polls, the tabulation of all the SOPs and declaration of regional results by the Region’s Returning Officer were all credible in nine of 10 Regions. In Region 4, the process was declared fraudulent when it came to the the tabulation of all the SOPs and declaration of regional results by the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.

In the latest comment from the APNU+AFC Coalition’s camp, Aubrey Norton said, “The process teems with irregularities. From the inception, I said it cannot be considered to be anomalies anymore. This is a clear case of electoral fraud and rigging.” Norton is an Executive of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), which is the majority partner in the APNU+AFC Coalition.

This comment is the latest in a shifting narrative that has come from the Coalition.

he first issue on the agenda of Wednesday’s (May 13, 2020) virtual meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organisation of America States (OAS)was a preliminary report on the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections held in Guyana.

And the Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), Bruce Golding, was no holds barred, when he addressed the Permanent Council.

He stressed that the declaration of election results for Region Four was based on fictitious documents. “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an Election. More than a dozen copies of the Statements of Poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on election night. One copy is posted on the wall outside the polling station and each party representative – and there were nine in all – each party representative is entitled to receive a copy. It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present documents with fictitious numbers when there is such a sturdy paper trail exists. And this is being illustrated now as the recount proceeds,” he said.

Golding referred to the fact that the Statements of Recounts, generated from the recount of the ballot boxes, reflect numbers that are vastly different from those used by the Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, to make his March 13, 2020 declaration of results.

Golding, to support his contention, noted that as of Tuesday (May 12, 2020, a total of 81 ballot boxes were recounted for Region 4 and they showed that the votes for the APNU+AFC Coalition were inflated by over 1,500 votes.

ISSUES IN REGION 4 The Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission, in his report to the OAS Permanent Council, stated that the electoral process up to the close of the polls and through the tabulation of results proceeded in accordance with the electoral law in nine of the 10 Regions of Guyana.

However, he pointed out that the tabulation of results in Region 4 was marred by several issues that have tainted the overall process and has led to the protracted delay in

the declaration of the final election results.

These issues, according to Golding, included repeated interruptions in the tabulation process for various irregular reasons, including the unavailability of electoral workers to conduct the tabulation.

The second issue he pointed to was the repeated disruptions in the tabulation room and in other areas of building which served as both the Office of the Returning Officer for Region 4 and the Office of the Chief Elections Officer during the electoral process. “The disruptions typically followed announcements or actions

by GECOM officials that undermined the transparency of the process. Principal among these was the action of the Returning Officer in abandoning the use of the Statements of Poll in the presence of the authorized party representatives and to rely, instead, on a spreadsheet of unknown origin which provided results that were significantly different from the Statements of Poll which party representatives claimed to be in their possession,” Golding said.

The Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission said the third issue was that a declaration of results for Region 4 on March 5, 2020 by the Returning Officer, was made while the tabulation process was at a standstill and while a significant number of Statements of Poll had not been reviewed in the presence of party representatives as is required by law.

“It is of some significance that the declaration which is required to be signed by only the Returning Officer also carries what appears to be the signature of the chairman of the People’s National Congress – the major partner in the ruling APNU-AFC alliance,” he said.

Golding pointed too to “physical altercations on the evening of March 5, between the security services and political party representatives” at the Office of the Returning Officer for Region 4.

DEPARTURE FROM PROCEDURE After the first fraudulent declaration of results by Mingo on March 5, 2020, Golding noted that there were clear departures from established procedures.

He said, “The Office of

the Returning Officer for Region was closed, effectively halting the process entirely. It remained closed from March 5 through March 12, while matters concerning the tabulation process were addressed

by Guyana’s High Court - specifically, an injunction blocking the declaration of the results for Region 4, until the Returning Officer complied with the electoral law in determining the votes cast for each list of candidates.

“Although Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire ruled on March 11 that the Returning Officer must display the Statements of Poll in determining the results of the elections, he continued the use of his spreadsheet. It was only after contempt of court proceedings on March 13 that images of Statements of Poll were displayed on a screen.

However, in several instances, the numbers appearing on these Statements of Poll were vastly different from those in the possession of the party representatives.

“The Returning Officer eventually issued a new declaration of the results just before midnight on March 13.”

PACE OF RECOUNT On the ongoing recount, Golding said, “The continued reiteration of issues that have already been resolved however, and insistence on actions or discussions that do not materially impact the recount of the ballots themselves, are creating inordinate delays in the process, with some ballot boxes requiring up to five hours to complete.”

According to him, the pace of work could be improved. “In the first five days of the recount, 207 of the 2339 ballot boxes were completed. While the pace of the recount continues to improve incrementally, reports from the ground suggest that the recount process will last longer than the projected 25 days unless the pace is significantly improved. Greater consistency in the management of the workstations, along with efforts to exclude or limit actions that hinder their efficiency, may help in this regard,” he said.

The Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission disclosed that two accredited members of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission are present in George(Turn to page 22)

10

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

Flashback: The fight to protect our Democracy Coalition changes its narrative about releasing SOPs to validate claim of electoral win

A

mid its insistence that of an electoral win, the APNU+AFC Coalition has been called on to release the Statements of Poll for Region 4, which it was issued by the

Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), to validate its position.

However, after refusing to release the Statements of Polls, the APNU+AFC

Coalition’s narrative on the Statements of Polls has now changed.

On May 14, 2020, the APNU+AFC Coalition’s David Patterson, said, “The

Statements of Recount matter now, we want a winner to be determined. This exercise is not a question of comparison, it is about determining a winner and a next government…

It’s

UR TRY O

IOUS

Time!

DELIC

Y P S I CR NCHY CRU N

KE C I H C

We do Chicken Better STABROEK

CAMP ST

SHERIFF ST

Another great option on our menu!

PICKUP AND DELIVERY ALSO AVAILABLE! Opening Hours: 7:00hrs - 21:00hrs

MAIN ST

226-3935 227-7070 223-5236 225-4387

NEW AMSTERDAM

333-3477

the documents now that are most important are SoRs and the comparativeness and the observation reports.”

On the same day, the Coalition’s Aubrey Norton said, “When a party has its statements of poll, it is for its use. And it has to decide strategically and tactically when it releases it…we have no apologies for it.”

Prior to this, on May 10, 2020, the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Khemraj Ramjattan, said, “We have offered an explanation; I think why not?

We will wait until we have to go for an elections petition or some such thing afterwards.

That is the explanation given.

And that is exclusively the privacy of the coalition party…I can understand you’re [asking] why not? Well, that is our position. We would like to see what GECOM and the boxes are showing, so we can make our contrast, so we will be in a better position to make an assessment of the overall nature of what transpired.”

Before that, on March 26, 2020, the APNU+AFC Coalition’s co-campaign manager, Raphael Trotman, said, “The SOPs, these are to be closely guarded. If there is an elections petition, these are to be presented as evidence. We are preserving out SOPs and they will be made available at the appropriate time when we get there, which is what we expect.”

The first to comment on the issue was the APNU+AFC Coalition’s campaign manager, Joseph Harmon. On March 14, 2020, during a news conference, he had said, “We have taken the position that our SOPs that we have are our SOPs. We have the experience in the past when these matters have to go to court and so on… it is in our interest to have our SOPs secured. The law required that the SOPs that is declared is that declared by GECOM, therefore, there is no other requirement for us to match anything.”

The Statements of Polls for every ballot box are prepared by the Polling Clerks, who are GECOM staffers, when the count is completed on election night. Those documents are signed off by the representatives of the political parties that are present.

Copies of the document are issued to political parties.

The tabulation of all the Statements of Polls for every region are then done by the Returning Officers for each

Region and a declaration of the results is made. This process went well in nine of the 10 Regions, except for Region 4.

The declarations of the nine Regions saw the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) in the lead with just over 50,000 votes.

PPP/C RELEASES SOPS The PPP/C released its SOPs over a month ago, as well as the Tally Sheets to support its numbers.

According to the GECOM-issued SOPs, released by the PPP/C, it won 80,887 votes and the APNU+AFC Coalition secured 116,950 votes in Region 4.

In the second fraudulent declaration made on March 13, 2020 by the Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, the votes for the APNU+AFC Coalition were inflated by 19,107 votes. On the other hand, the votes for the PPP/C were decreased by 3,656 votes.

The inflation of the APNU+AFC votes by 19,107 in Region 4 gave the APNU+AFC Coalition an overall win in the March 2020 Elections.

FRAUDULENT DECLARATION The March 13, 2020 declaration by Mingo has been dismissed as fraudulent by most every international and local election observer mission.

More recently, Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), Bruce Golding, addressed the matter during a virtual meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organisation of America States.

He stressed that the declaration of election results for Region Four was based on fictitious documents. “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an Election. More than a dozen copies of the Statements of Poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on election night. One copy is posted on the wall outside the polling station and each party representative – and there were nine in all – each party representative is entitled to receive a copy. It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present documents with fictitious numbers when there is such a sturdy paper trail exists. And this is being illustrated now as the recount (Turn to page 22)

WEEKEND WEEKEND MIRROR 6-7 31 JULY MARCH, - 1 AUGUST, 2021 2021

DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT G

uyana survived a dictatorship between 1964 and 1992. Democracy and free and fair elections were restored in October 1992. However, as a result of the actions of the David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition, Guyana was pushed into unconstitutional rule – a status that remains unchanged until General and Regional Elections was held on March 2, 2020.

The March 2020 Elections brought a whole new host of challenges, particularly the five-month delay in finalizing the results of that election. Guyanese endured the barely-concealed mischief of the APNU+AFC Coalition, aided by elements still embedded in the Secretariat of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), to thwart the will of the Guyanese people.

TIMELINE: DECEMBER 21, 2018 - GOVERNMENT DEFEATED IN A NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION NCM:

On November 15, 2018, following the resounding defeat of the Government in the Local Government Elections, the Opposition responding to a general lack of confidence in the government, introduced a Motion of No-Confidence in Parliament. The motion was debated and successfully passed on December 21st 2018.

In accordance with the constitution, the government was OBLIGATED to resign, dissolve Parliament and call elections within three months, which meant elections were due by March 21, 2019.

Article 106(6) of the Constitution states: "The Cabinet including the President shall resign if the government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence."

Meanwhile Article 106(7) states: "Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in once and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the election."

courts, the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled on June 18, 2019 that: • The provisions of Articles 106(6) and 106 (7) were immediately triggered by the December 21, 2018 NCM • The Government's life ended on March 21, 2019 • 33 votes represented a majority, all 65 votes were valid • The government must resign and assume a caretaker status until elections were held • The Caribbean Court of Justice made the several declarations and orders, following its ruling and said: • The Cabinet and President must resign; • The David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition will continue as a caretaker government • The APNU+AFC Coalition must restrain the exercise of its legal authority • The three-month Election clock started on June 18, 2019.

The APNU+AFC Coalition, in open defiance of the orders of the CCJ, refused to comply, although Mr. David Granger acknowledged that the Government is obligated to only play a caretaker role.

A letter from Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on July 20, 2019 to President Granger called for compliance in all these regards. Granger responded to say that these “requests” are being examined by Attorney General Basil Williams.

AUGUST 5, 2019 – APNU+AFC COALITION CONTINUES TO Immediately, following the vote, the Prime Minister surrounded by senior minis- DEFY CONSTITUTION, CCJ: DECEMBER 21-22, 2018 – ACCEPTANCE OF DEFEAT:

ters of the government, acknowledging the constitutional provisions, conceded they were defeated and elections must be held.

The President, the next day reiterated that the government was defeated and elections must be held within three months.

On December 27th, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), through its Public Relations Officer, assured it was ready for elections within the stipulated three months and, subsequently, the Chief Elections Officer reported there was a clean voters list which would be updated through the mandatory Claims and Objections period.

DECEMBER 23, 2018 – FUZZY MATHEMATICS:

A few days after, the Government embarked on a fanciful strategy to invalidate the NCM. The APNU+AFC Coalition argued a new calculation on the majority of the National Assembly [65/2=32.5, roundup to 1 = 33, add one =34].

JANUARY 3, 2019 – ATTEMPT TO REVERSE NCM DECISION:

The APNU+AFC Coalition illegally scheduled a parliamentary sitting on January 3, 2019, in the absence of the Parliamentary Opposition, requesting the Speaker to reverse the decision. The Speaker refused to grant the Government's request.

JANUARY 5-7, 2019 – COURT CHALLENGES:

Following the Speaker's refusal to invalidate the Parliamentary motion, the government approached the courts in a desperate attempt to delay the elections.

The judicial proceedings took almost seven months, totally abrogating the constitutional timeline of three months for elections. Elections ought to have been held since March 21, 2019.

JANUARY 31, 2019 – NON-COMPLIANCE WITH HIGH COURT RULING:

In Guyana’s High Court, the Chief Justice made her ruling on all the matters before her: • 33 is the majority, not 34 as the Coalition was insisting • The government stood resigned in keeping with the article 106 (6) and (7) • Dual citizens are not eligible to be candidates and Members of Parliament, however, Charandass Persaud’s vote is valid in accordance with electoral laws and Article 165 of the Constitution.

President David Granger responds to the Opposition Leader’s calls for compliance with the Constitution and the CCJ ruling by saying he will not “accede” to the calls. In a letter, Granger said, “It is my considered opinion that the Caribbean Court of Justice did not issue orders that I should dissolve the National Assembly, fix a date for General and Regional Elections and that I should resign from the Office of President.”

Notably, the request was for the Cabinet to resign including the President (meaning that the entire Cabinet inclusive of its Chairman, the President must resign); for the President to issue a Proclamation dissolving Parliament and fixing a date for elections in accordance with the CCJ Consequential Orders and Articles 106(6) & (7) of the Constitution.

The CCJ ruled that Articles 106(6) & (7) were immediately triggered when the No-Confidence Motion was passed on 21st December, 2018 and must be obeyed.

JULY – AUGUST 2019 – GRANGER’S EXCUSES:

David Granger spent months repeating excuses for not declaring a date for elections, saying GECOM had to advise him on when they could be ready for Elections. This was happening even as his representatives at GECOM took actions that delayed GECOM’s readiness for elections – with the support of Granger’s illegally appointed Chairman, James Patterson (the illegally appointed GECOM Chairman was removed after the PPP/C was successful in securing a ruling from the CCJ, which said he was appointed illegally by Granger in breach of the Constitution). These actions included the commencement of house-to-house registration, which would have de-registered tens of thousands of Guyanese, including thousands of Amerindians. Again, there was a move to the court to stop the planned move that would disenfranchise thousands of Guyanese. The High Court ruled that House-to-House registration, with the intention of de-registering people from the existing National Register of Registrants, is illegal.

Since then, with the appointment of a new GECOM Chairperson, rogue elements at the GECOM Secretariat continue to act in a worrisome manner.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 – ELECTION READINESS:

Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Retired Justice, Claudette Singh, sent a letter to caretaker president, David Granger, advising him that GECOM would be ready to hold elections by the end of February 2020.

Still, Granger refused to name a date for elections.

The PPP/C moved into protest actions calling on Granger to comply with the Constitution.

JUNE 18 – JULY 12, 2019 – GUYANA’S APEX COURT AFFIRMS SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 – BREACH OF THE CONSTITUTION: VALIDITY OF NCM, ISSUES ORDERS: The decision of the High Court was overturned by the Appeal Court in a 2-1 majority decision. This was then challenged at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

After a seven-month tortuous legal process which included appeals to higher

The United States of America Ambassador to Guyana, H.E. Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch, United Kingdom High Commissioner to Guyana, H.E. Greg Quinn and the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Guyana, H.E. Ambassador Fernando Ponz Cantó issued a joint statement.

11 11

12 12

WEEKEND WEEKEND MIRRORMIRROR 31 JULY -6-7 1 AUGUST, MARCH, 2021 2021

It said, “We deeply regret that, by surpassing September 18, the Government is currently in breach of the Constitution following its failure to adhere to the decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on 18 June and its subsequent orders. This situation comes at great cost to the people of Guyana. The prevailing political uncertainty undermines Guyanese institutions, compromises economic opportunities and delays development across all areas including infrastructure, education, health, and social services. It also hinders our ability to support Guyana’s development needs. We therefore call upon the President to set an elections date immediately in full compliance with Guyana’s constitution.”

printers in Canada, for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 – CONSTITUTIONAL RULE MUST BE RESTORED:

Thousands of voters turned out on Election Day, in a process that was hailed by international observers as peaceful.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, urges the President of Guyana and all relevant stakeholders and institutions to restore constitutional rule in Guyana by immediately setting an early election date in consonance with its constitution, enabling elections to be held without further delay.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 – MORE AMBIGUITY:

David Granger addressed the nation to indicate that “the earliest possible date for the holding of General and Regional Elections will be on Monday, 2nd March 2020.”

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 – NO CONFIDENCE IN GRANGER’S COMMENTS:

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in a statement said: “The illegal president, David Granger, ended yet another address to the nation with the Guyanese people being no clearer than they were before. His address has not given a definitive date for General and Regional Elections; rather he says: ‘...the earliest possible date for the holding of General and Regional Elections will be on Monday, 2nd March 2020’. His evidenced history of flip-flopping does not inspire confidence in anything that he says. Therefore, nothing short of a signed proclamation from him, declaring a date for General and Regional Elections, will be credible.”

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 – FIRM ELECTION DATE MUST BE SET:

In a statement the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) called for David Granger to issue the proclamation required by Guyana’s Constitution to firmly establish the date for the elections.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 – BUCKLING UNDER PRESSURE:

Members of the Commonwealth, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU), have now condemned David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition government for pushing Guyana into unconstitutional rule. Granger has since buckled to pressure and proclaimed, officially, March 2, 2020 as the date for General and Regional Elections, which ought to have been held since March 21, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 – FEBRUARY 29, 2020 – CAMPAIGNS

The next few months saw intense campaigning on both sides of the political aisle.

Facts about track record – whether or not the political party in power delivered on their promises made in its manifesto – matter. Facts about performance – how well the political party served the Guyanese people – matter. Facts related to whether the Guyanese people can trust the political party in power. These issues were ventilated. It was pointed out that on all three of these counts the APNU+AFC Coalition, since taking office in May 2015, proved itself a complete and abysmal failure. It was also pointed out that the APNU+AFC Coalition could not be trusted.

As such, Guyanese are all urged to vote for a ‘Plan for Prosperity’ by putting their ‘X’ in the box next to the cup in support of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).

JANUARY 10, 2020 – NOMINATION DAY

GECOM confirmed that 11 political parties were on the ballot for the upcoming General and Regional Elections, scheduled for March 2, 2020.

The other nine parties are: 1. The New Movement (TNM) 2. The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) 3. Organisation of the Victory of the People (OVP) 4. Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) 5. A New and United Guyana (ANUG) 6. Change Guyana 7. People’s Republic Party (PRP) 8. Fed-Up 9. United Republican Party (URP).

However, only the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) and the APNU+AFC Coalition will be contesting in all of the 10 Regions at both the General and Regional levels.

The other nine have opted to contest in some of the Regions at the General and Regional levels.

GECOM is prepared for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, according to GECOM Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh. She said, “We have been working hard...we worked over the Christmas holidays...we are prepared.”

FEBRUARY 6, 2020 – BALLOT PAPERS

The ballot papers has been completed and they arrived in Guyana, from the

FEBRUARY 25, 2020 – CONCERNS ABOUT BREACHES OF ELECTIONS LAW

A People’s Progressive Party (PPP) delegation met with GECOM and called for strong penalties to be instituted against any staff found breaching the law on Election Day.

MARCH 2, 2020 – ELECTION DAY

MARCH 2, 2020 - WEST BANK DEMERARA PROTEST HAD ‘NO BASIS’ IN TRUTH

Unsubstantiated claims by persons aligned to the APNU+AFC Coalition about the circulation of fake national identification (ID) cards made outside the Goed Intent/ Patentia Neighbour-hood Democratic Council (NDC) by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) was the reason for protests outside the NDC office.

Regional Police Commander, Simon McBean, explained that a report about unrest was made just after 13:00hours on Monday (March 2, 2020). He said, “The crowd alleged that there were persons selling or having fake ID cards and attempting to vote. They fingered one person who turned out to be a legitimate voter... they pointed out an individual. The individual indicated that he is a working agent and as a result, he was escorted out of the polling place and he departed. He was an agent of the political party. He went to vote at the Polling Station at the [Good Intent] Nursery School.”

According to the Police Commander, the person was allowed to vote and investigations found that the protest had no basis in truth based on investigations.

MARCH 2-4, 2020 – COUNTING IN NINE OF 10 REGIONS

Regional Officials in nine of 10 Regions, except Region 4, completed the counting and Ballots and begin posting results.

MARCH 4, 2020 – VERIFICATION OF REGION 4 RESULTS STOPPED THREE TIMES IN ONE NIGHT

Despite commitments made on the afternoon of March 4, 2020, the verification of the 2020 General and Regional Elections results in Region 4 stopped at least three times – having been stopped twice that day – and was then suspended later that night, with an assurance to restart on March 5, 2020 at 9:00hours.

MARCH 5, 2020 – MINGO DECLARES FAKE RESULTS

Fraudulent results for Region 4 were declared by Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, on March 5, 2020, and there was a push to declare final results based on those controversial results.

MARCH 5, 2020 - COURT RULES ON JURISDICTION, WARNS GECOM THAT INJUNCTION IS ABSOLUTE

In a rare weekend sitting of the High Court, parties appeared to address the injunction that restrained the Guyana Elections Commission either by itself, its servants and/or agents “from declaring the total number of valid votes of electors for each list of candidates” recorded in the March 2, 2020 Elections.

The injunction was granted by Justice Navindra Singh on March 5, 2020 restraining GECOM, either by itself, its servants and/or agents “from declaring the total number of valid votes of electors for each list of candidates” recorded in the March 2, 2020 Elections. The case was heard by Acting Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire.

MARCH 6, 2020 - MEDIA BARRED FROM GECOM’S COMMAND CENTRE

Despite the fact that members of the local media corps were accredited by GECOM, day five of election week in Guyana, saw the media being barred from entering the GECOM Command Center, on High and Hadfield Streets, which also doubled as the office of the Returning Officer for Region 4.

MARCH 6, 2020 - REGION 4 RETURNING OFFICER WILL HAVE TO ACCOUNT FOR BLANK STATEMENTS OF POLLS

An attempt to access blank Statements of Poll (SOPs), which could have been used to further corrupt the ongoing APNU/AFC controversy over the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) vote tabulation, was on March 6, 2020 thwarted by alert and experienced officials of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

MARCH 6, 2020 - POLICE COMMANDER REMOVED FROM DUTIES AFTER REFUSING TO EVICT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS

Assistant Police Commissioner, Edgar Thomas was removed from his commanding officer post for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Sub-division A, with immediate effect, on March 6, 2020 after refusing to execute a decision, which he opined was unlawful.

Reports are that an order was given by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to remove both international and local observers, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) appointed Commissioner from the Region Four Returning Officer’s (RO) office at Hadfield and High Streets, Georgetown.

13 13

WEEKEND MIRROR 6-7 31 JULY MARCH, - 1 AUGUST, 2021 2021

MARCH 6, 2020 – GUYANESE PROTEST FRAUDULENT RESULTS

Guyanese took to the streets on March 6, 2020 along the coast, in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, to protest brazen electoral fraud – with the declaration of fraudulent results for Region 4 on March 5, 2020 and the push to declare final results by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

In the unrest that followed roads were blocked, tyres were burned and there were clashes with ranks of the Guyana Police Force. Several leaders of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) who visited the areas were told by protestors that they would continue their actions and that it was not a “party” protest; rather it was the people’s action and that there would be no acceptance of electoral fraud.

A heavily armed riot squad of the Guyana Police Force released teargas and later opened fire on a group of protesters. Seven persons were shot and several others were arrested.

MARCH 7, 2020 – LOWENFIELD FLOUTS COURT ORDER

Despite an injunction in place preventing it from making a declaration of the total vote count from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, GECOM continued to move ahead to finalise the results.

And the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, on March 7, 2020 even went as far as requesting a meeting be called so that he may submit his final report. He wrote to GECOM Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh, requesting the meeting so that he could submit his final report.

In the email, Lowenfield stated that he has received declarations from Returning Officers for General and Regional Elections 2020 from Districts 1 – 10 and in accordance with Section 99 of the Representation of the People Act, he had prepared the final report for submission to the Commission. The GECOM Secretariat also published on its website what it called the “certified” copies of the declarations submitted to the CEO by each of the Returning Officers for the ten electoral districts, including for Region Four.

MARCH 8, 2020 - VOLDA LAWRENCE’S SIGNATURE ON FRAUDULENT DECLARATION OF ELECTION RESULTS

The appearance of the signature of Volda Lawrence, Chairperson of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), on the fraudulent declaration of results of Region 4 from the March 2, 2020 Elections has raised several questions. On all the Form 24 declarations, for nine Regions, there is only one signature, that of the Returning Officers.

MARCH 10, 2020 – GECOM CHAIR CITES COURT ACTION AS REASON FOR DELAY

GECOM Chair Retired Justice Claudette Singh, in comments on March 10, 2020, said: “It is important for all relevant parties and members of the public to note that while GECOM is a Constitutional agency, it is still subjected to the Laws of Guyana; hence the mandatory injunction granted against the Commission and Chief Election Officer on Thursday 5th March, 2020, has affected the finalization of the Commission's work at this point.”

MARCH 11, 2020 – HIGH COURT RULES

The High Court ruling that there must be a return to the verification of election results for Region 4, which would allow for a credible declaration of results for Region 4.

MARCH 12, 2020 - PPP/C RELEASES REGION 4 TALLY SHEETS TO SUPPORT SOPS

The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C) release of all the Statements of Poll (SOPs) from the Region 4 electoral process, was followed on March 12, 2020 with the release of Tally Sheets for the 879 polling stations for Region 4.

The PPP/C said, “Each tally sheet is signed by the presiding officer and can be used to corroborate our copy of GECOM's Statements of Poll that we uploaded last Thursday...we are still tracking the remaining tally sheets from our polling agents.”

MARCH 12, 2020 – VERIFICATION OF REGION 4 RESULTS RECOMMENCES

Hours after the Chief Justice (ag), Roxanne George-Wiltshire made it clear that the verification of election results must recommence and that the declaration made by the Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, was illegal, different events played out at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) command center, which doubles as Mingo’s office.

On March 12, 2020, Mingo reintroduced the spreadsheet and refused to conduct the verification of the election results in Region 4 using Statements of Poll. This drew vociferous objections from the stakeholders present.

MARCH 13, 2020 - HEIGHTENED TENSIONS, DUBIOUS SOPS AND POLICE ACTION PRECEDE SECOND SUSPECT DECLARATION OF RESULTS FOR REGION 4

In what was condemned as fraudulent process the verification of election results in Region 4 was completed on March 13, 2020, using suspect numbers and blurred Statements of Poll that were posted on screen. The Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, at about 23:00hours then declared the results of Region 4.

Members of the local diplomatic corps – US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah Anny-Lynch, UK High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn; Canadian High Commissioner Lilian Chatterjee and EU Ambassador Fernando Ponz-Canto – also walked out on the process.

Afterwards, there was an unexplained move of operations from GECOM’s Command Center, which doubled as the Returning Officer’s office, on High and Hadfield Streets, to GECOM’s head office on High Street, Kingston, Georgetown. The space was essentially under a shed – making the move even more inexplicable, given that the Returning Officer’s office had better facilities and accommodation for stakeholders in the electoral process.

MARCH 13, 2020 – APNU+AFC COALITION MEMBER’S SIGNATURE ON REGION 4 ELECTION RESULT DECLARATION

In what is a clear case of fraud, provision was made for the signatures of 'witnesses' on the Region 4 declaration of results in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in comments on the issue said, “Interestingly, the only 'witness' who signed was the embattled APNU+AFC Coalition's Carol Joseph. This is a clear attempt to obfuscate the conspiracy between the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition and complicit GECOM officials – a conspiracy to perpetrate electoral fraud – which led to signature of Volda Lawrence appearing on last week’s fraudulent declaration for Region 4. The fact remains that in ALL nine other Regions, only the stamp and signature of the Returning Officer was on the official declarations of election results in those areas.”

MARCH 14, 2020 GRANGER’S SON-IN-LAW BREAKS RANK

Executive Member of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Dominic Gaskin, who served as Business Minister in the APNU+AFC Coalition Government between 2015 and 2020 broke ranks with the Coalition over the weekend, moving to publicly question the credibility of the election results for Region 4.

MARCH 15, 2020 – BALLOT BOXES MOVED

GECOM began the process of moving ballot boxes from locations across Region Four to its head office in Kingston, Georgetown, on March 15, 2020.

The containers, within which the ballot boxes are stored, were escorted by ranks of the Guyana Police Force. Representatives of stakeholders in the electoral process, including those from the People’ Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) were involved in overseeing the process.

MARCH 17, 2020 - APNU+AFC USES CANDIDATE TO FILE INJUNCTION, BLOCK RECOUNT

An injunction to block the recount of votes from the 2020 General and Regional Elections was filed by Ulita Moore, who was a candidate on the APNU+AFC Coalition’s regional list for the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

MARCH 17, 2020 - CERTAIN ‘FORCES’ DO NOT WANT TO SEE VOTES RECOUNTED – CARICOM CHAIR

Stressing that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remains committed to Guyana, the body’s current Chair, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, announced the withdrawal of the high-level team that was to supervise the recount of votes from the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

APRIL 1, 2020 - APNU+AFC COMMISSIONERS TRY TO PUSH THROUGH LOWENFIELD’S REPORT THAT INCLUDES ‘FAKE’ RESULTS

GECOM cancelled a scheduled meeting on April 1, 2020 after the APNU+AFC nominated GECOM Commissioners asked for time to read the ruling of the Full Court the day before – a ruling that has essentially paved the way for a recount.

The cancellation of the meeting was followed by a move by the APNU+AFC candidate, Ulita Moore, to appeal the ruling of the Full Court.

APRIL 3, 2020 – GECOM AGREES TO MOVE FORWARD WITH COUNTRYWIDE RECOUNT

A vote at the GECOM on April 3, 2020 saw a majority decision being made to move ahead with a countrywide recount.

GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh, voted with the three Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioners – Bibi Shadick, Robeson Benn and Sase Gunraj – to proceed with the recount.

APRIL 8, 2020 – LOWENFIELD’S TIMELINE FOR RECOUNT WOULD DELAY FINALIZING OF ELECTION RESULTS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2020

A meeting of GECOM on April 8, 2020, Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, finally delivered on a work plan that would see the completion of a recount. However, the timeline for the recount numbers 156 days – meaning there would be no finalization of the March 2020 Election results until sometime in September 2020, if the recount starts in April 2020.

As per Lowenfield’s plan, the estimated time for one ballot box to be counted was projected to be two hours; utilizing 3 workstations for 10 hours per day (9:00hrs -19:00hrs) at a central location to count 2,339 boxes.

Further, Lowenfield’s 156-day timeline is longer than his 148-day timeline to plan for the entire General and Regional Elections that was presented in February 2019.

APRIL 24, 2020 - RECOUNT ORDER FINALIZED BY GECOM

GECOM, after its April 24, 2020 meeting, finalized the Recount Order, as well as its work plan to move ahead with the recount of the votes from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

14 MAY 1, 2020 - CARICOM OBSERVER TEAM FOR RECOUNT ARRIVES IN GUYANA

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Observer Team for the recount of Guyana’s Regional and General Elections arrived in Guyana on May 1, 2020.

The three-member Team is led by Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), and included Mr. John Jarvis, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission and Mr. Sylvester King, Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They were met on arrival by the CARICOM Secretariat’s Assistant Secretary-General for Foreign and Community Relations Ambassador Colin Granderson.

MAY 6, 2020 - RECOUNT STARTS IN GUYANA

Ballot Boxes were moved to the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) and the national recount of votes from the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections got underway on May 6, 2020.

JUNE 9, 2020 – NATIONAL RECOUNT COMPLETED

Based on the national recount, which ended on June 9, 2020, there were a total of 460,352 valid votes.

The national recount results, at the General Elections, based on the Certificates of Recount for all 10 Regions, show that: • The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won the March 2 General Election with 233,336 votes.

• The APNU+AFC Coalition secured 217,920 votes.

• A New and United Guyana secured 2.313 votes • Change Guyana secured 1,953 votes; • The Liberty and Justice Party secured 2,657; • The People’s Republic Party secured 889 votes; • The Citizen’s Initiative secured 680 votes; • The New Movement secured 244 votes; and • The United Republican Party secured 360 votes.

The national results, at the Regional Elections, based on the Certificates of Recount for all 10 Regions, show that: • The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won the March 2 Regional Election with 233,661 votes.

• The APNU+AFC Coalition secured 217,055 votes.

• Change Guyana secured 2,607 votes; • The Liberty and Justice Party secured 2,935; • The People’s Republic Party secured 927 votes; • The United Republican Party secured 1,369 votes; • The FUP secured 153 votes; and • The OVP secured 448 votes.

At the end of the national recount, the electoral fraud perpetrated by the controversial Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, was clear. A review of 145 comparisons of Statements of Poll, Statements of Recount and the declarations made by Mingo, showed that the votes for APNU+AFC was inflated by over 7,000.

On the other hand, the votes for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) were reduced. These numbers were arrived at by comparing Mingo’s numbers and the Statements of Recount.

The CEO has to produce a final report to allow for the finalization of the election results.

JULY 11, 2020 - LOWENFIELD REFUSES TO COMPLY WITH GECOM CHAIR’S INSTRUCTIONS

The national recount exercise was conducted over a period of 34 days, at the end of which Certificates of Recount for all 10 Regions in Guyana were produced and signed off by staff of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and representatives of all the political parties, except those from the APNU+AFC Coalition. For all intents and purposes the Certificates of Recount were to replace the regional declarations of election results made by the regional Returning Officers, more specifically, the March 13, 2020 fraudulent declaration for Region Four that was made by embattled Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.

However, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, for the third time, defied the instructions of the GECOM Chair, Claudette Singh, and instead of submitting his final report based on the Certificates of Recount, as instructed – to allow for the final declaration of election results – he submitted a report that features the regional declarations, including the fraudulent March 13, 2020 Mingo numbers. His move rendered the national recount process inconsequential.

Notably, at the commencement of the national recount, the regional declarations were held in In Lowenfield’s report on July 11, 2020, he claimed that the valid votes totaled 475,118 votes. Of those he assigned the APNU+AFC Coalition with 236,777 votes and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) with 229, 330 votes. Based on these numbers he assigned the APNU+AFC Coalition with 33 seats in Parliament,

WEEKEND WEEKEND MIRRORMIRROR 31 JULY 6-7 - 1 AUGUST, MARCH, 2021 the PPP/C with 31 seats and the smaller opposition parties, with a joined list – ANUG, LJP and TNM – with one seat.

Lowenfield’s July 11th numbers are not those that were reflected on the completion of the national recount. His numbers mirror Mingo’s fraudulent March 13th numbers, which at the end of the national recount were exposed as such. The national recount showed that Mingo increased votes for the APNU+AFC Coalition and decreased votes for the PPP/C.

JULY 13, 2020 -DECLARATIONS HELD IN ABEYANCE THROWN OUT, ONLY CERTIFICATES OF RECOUNT STAND – GECOM CHAIR

The ten district declarations that were made prior to the National Recount were set aside by the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh, on July 13, 2020.

These were previously held in abeyance and include the fraudulent report by the Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, on March 13, 2020, which includes manipulated votes.

The GECOM Chair also made clear that the ‘fraudulent reports’ submitted to the Commission by the embattled Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, were set aside too.

JULY 13, 2020 - LOWENFIELD GETS FOURTH CHANCE, TOLD TO USE RECOUNT RESULTS IN FINAL REPORT OR FACE CONSEQUENCES

For the fourth time, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), on July 13, 2020, was instructed to present a final report on the election results using the Certificates of Recount from the national recount process.

This decision was arrived at after GECOM’s Chair, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, held a meeting on July 13, 2020 to discuss the CEO’s conduct following the submission of a fraudulent report on July 11, 2020.

Lowenfield’s deadline was 14:00hours (2:00PM) on Tuesday (July 14, 2020).

JULY 14, 2020 - GECOM MEETING SCUTTLED BY ANOTHER LEGAL ACTION

Any progress expected to be made at the meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) meeting, on July 14, 2020 was scuttled by the filing of yet another court challenge, an hour before the meeting was scheduled to commence at 14:00hours (2:00PM).

A fixed date application was filed by Attorney-at-Law, Mayo Robertson, on behalf of Misenga Jones, a Tucville, Georgetown, resident, who was also a polling agent for the APNU+AFC Coalition on Election Day. It essentially seeks to have the recount results discarded.

The action lists GECOM, the Chair of GECOM, the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and the Attorney General as the respondents.

The 46-page court document that was filed calls for over 20 declarations from the High Court.

JULY 31, 2020 - STAY OF APPEAL COURT EXPIRES, NO ACTION TAKEN

The 24-hour stay of the ruling of the Appeal Court, which dismissed a challenge filed by the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Misenga Jones, expired with no further action being taken, as at the end of July 31, 2020.

AUGUST 2, 2020 - FINAL HURDLES CROSSED TO ALLOW FOR DECLARATION OF PPP/C AS ELECTION VICTORS

GECOM Chair Justice (rt’d) Claudette Singh met with GECOM Commissioners on August 2, 2020 to discuss the way forward following the Court of Appeal ruling, which upheld the decision of Chief Justice Roxanne George that the national vote recount is valid.

The Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, was instructed to submit a report based on the results of the national recount by 10:00hours on Sunday.

However, he failed to so do.

Moving forward, the GECOM Chair offered Lowenfield a last chance to comply, demanding that he present his report by 14:00hours (2:00PM) that day. As such, GECOM’s meeting was adjourned. Notably, the Appeal Court in upholding the ruling of the High Court, endorsed the position that the CEO is not a “lone ranger” and must comply with instructions of GECOM. Lowenfield, when the meeting resumed, submitted his final report, which accurately reflected the results of the national recount.

Based on the report, the GECOM Chair proceeded to sign off on official documents, which declared the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) as the winners of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Further, Justice Singh wrote the Chancellor, Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and requested that she made arrangements for the swearing in of Guyana’s 9th Executive President, Dr. Irfaan Ali. The President was sworn in just after 16:30hours (4:30PM) on Sunday (August 2, 2020) – five months to the day after Guyanese went to the polls on March 2, 2020.

15

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

POSITIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT

Menu of measures being considered PPP/C continues efforts to source COVID-19 vaccines to further help Guyanese he nation has been assured implemented to deal with those have gone to meetings virtually, PPP/C Government is Emergency Management made reference to his GovThemonitoring the increase Agency (CDEMA) team has ernment’s ‘Because We Tby President Dr. Irfaan Ali persons who refuse to take the where the global private sector that his Government will do vaccines. is saying vaccinated, that’s one in the cost of living due to the pandemic and the destruction caused by the recent floods and will devise ways to further help Guyanese, especially those who have been affected by the floods. This is according to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali. He added that a “menu of measures” are being considered to bolster plans already in place or in the pipeline, but that they will be dependent on revenue flow and the position of the economy. “I want to assure the Guyanese people that once the fiscal space is found, that we have no hesitation in bringing more help,” Ali said.

The President explained that the flood assessment is almost completed. He noted that the Caribbean Disaster

done its assessment and that the Government will also try to get a socio-economic impact assessment done.

The scale of the flooding was described as enormous and the President reminded that it did not only severely affected Guyana, but Suriname and parts of Brazil also.

Ali said, “In terms of the damage to the crops, the damage to livelihood, the damage to the household, I think just the magnitude and scale in terms of economic loss and financial loss has been enormous. And that is what you will see glaring in the report.”

The Head of State noted that his Government is trying to cushion the economic impact on Guyanese through its social programmes. He

Care’ and the Uniform and Supplies cash grants currently being distributed to parents of public school students and stated that an assessment is being done on the possibility of extending the grants to students of private schools.

According to the President, his Government will continue to work to cushion the effects of the flooding, which he said has affected a “great quantum” of our productive capacity in the agricultural sector and in food production. In addition to this, the Government is also vaccinating Guyanese against the deadly COVID-19 virus to save lives, while manoeuvring around the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic.

everything possible to source vaccines in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He disclosed that another batch of the second doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will arrive soon and thereafter, batches of the vaccine will be sourced regularly to ensure persons have access to it. Ali said, “There are no prices to the lives of the people of this country. We tried every single source. We tried every single manufacturer, ambassador, country, state to get the vaccine and we got it from this source and the only thing that matters to me is that we were able to get it.”

He noted that while the Government is working to source vaccines, the onus is on the people to get vaccinated and protect themselves against the deadly disease. However, he said measures would have to be

To this end, the President said the Government is reviewing proposals for the reopening of Cinemas, with the agreement that persons present their vaccination cards to enter and keep their masks on in the cinema.

“This is a pandemic. This is not a joke and you have to get tough sometimes…For example, the cinemas, they have been clamoring to be reopened. We are looking at a proposal for their reopening with all the guidelines with certain addition, in terms of the filters at 40 per cent,” Ali said.

He added that the Administration is looking at other proposals that could ultimately raise the capacity of restaurants and bars from 40 per cent to 60, but this will require persons showing their vaccination cards to enter. “There are some companies around the world and I

tier. If you are not vaccinated at your own cost you will have to bring a negative PCR, so these are all different models that the world is looking at in grappling with this situation, but we have to find the balance,” the President explained.

Dr. Ali also highlighted the importance of teachers being vaccinated to allow for the reopening of schools for face-toface learning. “I have been travelling around this country and I have seen children who ought to have been in school, they are out of the system so we have to get back in school, we have to get vaccinated, the teachers have to get vaccinated and create the conditions to ensure that we get back to school.” President Ali noted that once the Pfizer vaccine becomes available to Guyana, efforts will be made to vaccinate the children.

Because We Care: Region 4 - Cash Grant Distribution Schedule Friday August 06, 2021

Saturday August 07, 2021

Monday August 09, 2021

16

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

COM M ENTARY

August 2nd, blatant attempt to rig elections will forever be etched in minds of Guyanese

By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

N

ever again must the Guyanese people allow anyone to come near to rigging an election in Guyana.

Enough is enough.

The technicians who carried out a wicked plan to steal the March 2, 2020 elections, a desperate effort that lasted five whole months, are now in court and are facing terminations from their jobs. Holding these technicians accountable and ensuring they pay a price for their crimes is an imperative for this nation if we are going to ensure our democracy grows from strength to strength. But it would be a travesty and an injustice if the intellectual authors of the attempted rigging are allowed to escape the wheels of justice. It is not enough for Guyana to just bring to account the technicians who were used to carry out this heinous crime against our freedom.

The Commission of Inquiry to determine who did what in the aborted attempt to thief the March 2020 elections must be established now. This commission must be drawn from local and international experts. The majority of the Guyanese people want nothing less. We want the COI now, not later.

In a few days, August 2 to be specific, Guyanese will celebrate an anniversary in which democracy triumphed.

Dictators thought they could return Guyana to the dark days before 1992 when Guyana struggled to survive under a grinding poverty resulting from a brutal dictatorship held together by

rigged elections between 1968 and 1992. Between March 2 and August 2, 2020, Guyanese stood unyielding to PNC dictators and their cabal and the freedom fighters won. When the Guyanese people stood firm, the dictators were forced to yield. A message was written in stone between March 2 and August 2, 2020. The Guyanese people made clear, made pellucid, their determination that never again will this nation allow anyone to rig elections.

On August 2, Guyana will not just observe, but genuinely celebrating this first anniversary for the Irfaan Ali Presidency and the PPP/C-led government. Even as Guyanese celebrate this first anniversary of a newly elected democratic government, the PPP is busy bringing government to the people. Every day, health workers, supported by Ministers and other government officials are out with vaccination for Guyanese adults.

Every day, too, Ministers and other government officials are out with the “Because We Care” Education Cash Grant for which every Guyanese parent with a child in school is eligible.

But while the Guyanese people will next week celebrate the one-year anniversary for the PPP Government, people will most importantly be celebrating the heroic victory of the Guyanese people against a group who tried desperately, who tried shamelessly, to thief the March 2020 elections. By early March 3, 2020, the Guyanese people knew the PPP had won a resounding victory at the

March 2, 2020 elections.

At the same time, a sinister plan began to emerge. In spite of international observers watching keenly and in disbelief, GECOM staff members began implementing a conspiracy to thief the elections. This was not just an attempt to thief an election, it was an attempted coup. The dictators tried and failed, but tried nevertheless to thief a whole government, a whole country.

For this reason, August 2 will forever be etched in the history books and in the minds and hearts of the Guyanese people because on that day, Guyanese from different backgrounds, from different political persuasion stood together in unity to swear in a new government, after five months of vigilance, after five months of standing firm against the Granger-led dictators. For five months, after the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections, the Granger-led APNU/AFC brazenly tried to rig the elections results. They brazenly tried to change the election result numbers from Region 4. They vulgarly changed the numbers, reducing the PPP’s votes and inflating the votes for APNU/AFC. They did so in the full view of observers, in the full view of the world which was watching the live-stream of the thieving attempt.

Right now, senior members of the management team at GECOM are facing serious charges for the roles they played in the unsuccessful heist of March 2, 2020 elections. Keith Lowenfield, the Chief Elections Officer faces several charges for election

fraud and for conspiring to rig the March 2 elections and is before the courts. He is in court alongside the Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, and the Returning Officer for Region 4, Clairmont Mingo. There are other staff members of GECOM who have also been charged for conspiracy and for fraud. These same persons are also facing disciplinary action by GECOM. Three commissioners have submitted motions for termination of the services of these persons. While the PNC Commissioners on GECOM seem determined to frustrate the commission’s work, sooner than later, the GECOM election rigging cabal will drown under the overwhelming evidence of their guilt.

While the GECOM election rigging cabals were the technicians from hell, the ones who were used to commit fraud against the nation, the ones who were stooges for dictators, the Guyanese people must not forget that these recalcitrant were not the intellectual authors of one of the most horrendous crime against a nation. Guyana was attacked from within. But the GECOM staff members facing the music today were merely pawns in a wicked game. The game’s intellectual authors think they will get away with an ugly crime. The Guyanese people must hold the intellectual authors accountable.

There can be no doubt that APNU/AFC (PNC) is the intellectual author of the attempted election heist. For five years, they gave explicit clues of their intention to

Jagdeo puts Granger on blast for... elections).”

CARICOM REPORT Probably the most egregious of Granger’s comments, according to him, were the comments of on the report by the CARICOM team that supervised the national recount.

“He (Granger) called on people to read the report, but I wonder if he read the report,” Jagdeo quipped.

He added, “…the report he says that he agrees with, makes it very very clear in

its findings and conclusions, that the recount data forms a credible basis for the declaration of the results and every international organisation supports this. “….what Granger did was read one section of the report where they spoke about the future and what needs to be done in the future, in terms of reforms, and he ignores the major points.”

The CARICOM report stated clearly that: “We are… of the unshakeable belief that the people of Guyana

expressed their will at the ballot box and as a result, the three-person CARICOM Observer Group concludes that the recount results are completely acceptable. “…despite our concerns, nothing that we witnessed warrant a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 02, 2020 elections. Any aggrieved political party has been afforded the right to seek redress be-

thief the elections. When David Granger arbitrarily and unconstitutionally appointed Justice James Patterson as the Chair of GECOM in October 2017, after rejecting eighteen distinguished Guyanese nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, it was a clear signal that Granger was consolidating an electoral rigging machinery within GECOM. Granger gave an explicit clue that he was mimicking his hero – Forbes Burnham – as he tried to copy the Bollers-led election commission heist of elections between 1968 and 1992. But they miscalculated the determination and the grit of the PPP’s fight for democracy. The Guyanese people, after almost two years won a battle that we took all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice. In the 1970s and 1980s, the PPP and the Guyanese people could not access justice because Burnham had ensured we could not go outside of Guyana to seek justice. But the present time is different, we can go beyond the Guyanese court.

The Caribbean Court of Justice ruled Granger’s action as unconstitutional in June 2019. It is how Guyana had a constitutionally appointed GECVOM Chair – Justice Claudette Singh.

When Granger’s APNU/ AFC (PNC) decided to unconstitutionally not hold elections after the December 21st 2018 No Confidence Motion, it was a clear signal again that an unholy conspiracy to rig elections was in place. Granger himself, during the campaign, gave a very explicit signal there was a plan to thief the elections.

IN a rally, in a 12-minute address, in Golden Grove, the rally where they stupidly posted a fake picture showing Golden Grove with blue mountains, Granger told us plain that the elections were already determined.

He claimed in that address that he did not care what happened in the nine regions – Regions 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9 and 10. He said the battle that matters was the battle in Region 4. He said that what happened in Region 4 was the deciding factor. He was clearly giving a signal to his supporters not to worry, that they had a plan to rig Region 4 elections results.

The intellectual authors clearly were in the belly of the PNC. The hilarious, but wicked scheme to have a court decide 33 cannot be more than 32 was another clue they were up to no good.

They knew there were no phantom voters, no ghosts, no dead people who voted.

They tried changing numbers, they tried removing voters, they tried making up numbers. In the end, their own supporters knew the results and refused to come out in protest. IN the end, the whole world was too embarrassed to give them a chance.

In the end, Dr. Irfaan Ali took his oath as Guyana’s 9th President and Mark Phillips took his oath as Guyana’s Prime Minister. Democracy won in 2020. Guyana is a democracy in 2021. But unless the intellectual authors of the attempted heist are held accountable, Guyana’s democracy will continue to be fragile. The Commission of Inquiry is a start to ensure we end rigging in Guyana.

(From page 6)

fore the courts in the form of an election petition. “…the national recount process then, despite some of its minor flaws, is not an indictment of the 2020 polls and the team categorically rejects the concerted public efforts to discredit the 2020 polls up to the disastrous Region 4 tabulation.”

WILLFUL IGNORANCE Granger’s willful ignorance of the positions taken by the regional and international community that the

national recount forms the basis of a final declaration of the March 2020 Election results is also unhelpful, according to him. “I think the purpose of him coming out last night was to give support to (Joseph) Harmon’s vile rhetoric, but in a more polished form….to lend support to the embattled Lowenfield who has committed electoral fraud,” Jagdeo surmised.

Harmon had said that the APNU+AFC Coalition is not prepared to concede defeat. He had said, “There

is a report in the Elections Commission showing all the valid votes and still people are calling for Mr. Granger to concede. Concede to what?

Concede to who? What is he to concede to? It appears to me — and I’ll venture to say any right-thinking person — to be a most ridiculous and nonsensical proposition.”

As per the results of the national recount, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) won the March 2020 Elections by over 15,000 votes.

17

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

PARLIAMENT HAPPENINGS UNDER REVIEW

Speaker to be advised on NCMs soon – Clerk

S

peaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, is likely to make a decision on the No Confidence Motions before the House soon, given that legal advice is expected to be provided by the end of this week.

Clerk of the National Assembly confirmed that the Attorney General’s Chambers is expected to respond on the issue soon. “I should expect (a response) from him by the end of the week,” he said.

There are three no confidence motions that have been submitted to the National Assembly.

The no confidence motions against Anthony and Benn were signed by Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon, and submitted to the National Assembly on July 6, 2021.

The motion against Anthony is being seconded by the Coalition’s Dr Karen Cummings, while the motion against Benn is being seconded by Geeta

Chandan-Edmonds.

RIGOROUS DEFENCE Both Dr. Anthony and Minister Benn have signaled their intention to rigorously defend their performance within their respective sectors.

The Health Minister in comments on the matter said, “We welcome this opportunity to remind Mr. Harmon and the APNU+AFC of the many shortcomings that they have had for the five years that they

were in government….what we have done in [the] last several months is far more than they have accomplished in the last five years that they were in government.”

Anthony referred to the many scandals in the health sector, under the Co-

alition’s tenure, including the initial management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the expenditure of over a billion dollars on a COVID facility that was not even furnished.

“For those first few months when they were there, we had difficulty having a PCR

test done… throughout their tenure they would have done about 21 tests per day,” he said, adding that there were widespread shortages of personal protective equipment, ventilators and a plan for the treatment of COVID-19.

(Turn to page 18)

18

House to be advised on...

Anthony added, “It’s going to be fun when this thing comes up for debate, because we can clearly contrast what they have been doing with what we are doing and how that differs.”

Further, Minister Benn said, “We have a lot of things to talk about and I am happy that Harmon has provided me with that opportunity so that the people of this country

would have a fairer idea of where we are coming from, what we have done, and what more there is to be done, because we are not done here yet…it speaks to deeper issues relating to the desperation of the APNU+AFC in the light of them being continuously exposed in respect of their failings both in Government and also against the efforts which we are making in just

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021 (From page 17)

11 months, even with the COVID and severe flooding.”

GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL Meanwhile, grounds for the removal of the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Joseph Harmon as Opposition Leader have been cited by Prime Minister, Mark Phillip, who is advancing a no confidence motion against him.

The motion cites Harmon’s “crucial and integral” part of the process of undermining democracy, following the March 2, 2020 polls. The motion noted that Harmon also continues to “consistently and repeatedly” misinform the public and the National Assembly with claim of a Coalition victory at the March 2020 Elections.

Phillips also noted that the Opposition “recklessly” misinformed the public and the National Assembly on the issue of the COVID-19 vaccine, relative to its efficacy and acquisition. This, the Prime Minister said, endangered the lives of Guyanese

and has increased vaccine hesitancy among some of the most vulnerable in Guyana.

The Prime Minister, thirdly, called attention to Harmon’s opportunistic use of the horrific murder of the Henry boys from West Coast Berbice, as a means to incite ethnic disharmony.

The Opposition Leader’s consistent denigration of the representative of the joinder parties and Deputy Speaker, Lennox Shuman, as a legitimate member of the Parliamentary Opposition was also included in the motion. It was noted that Harmon has gone as far as denying a member of the Parliamentary Op-

position an opposition seat on any parliamentary committee.

Considering these facts, the no confidence motion calls an expression of a lack of confidence in the Leader of the Opposition and for Harmon’s immediate resignation.

The configuration of the National Assembly sees the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) with the parliamentary majority of 33 out of 65 seats. The APNU+AFC Coalition, the main Opposition party, has 31 seats, while the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), in collaboration with two other parties (the joinder parties), holds one seat in the House.

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

ExxonMobil announces discoveries at Whiptail-1, Whiptail-2 E

xxonMobil on Wednesday (July 28, 2021) said it made a discovery at Whiptail in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.

The Whiptail-1 well encountered 246 feet (75 meters) of net pay in high quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs. Drilling is also ongoing at the Whiptail-2 well, which has encountered

to be over 9 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

“As with discoveries prior, the Government of Guyana foresees this new development increasing the potential for additional floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSO).

This is further set to increase the estimated recoverable resource given by the oper-

“The Government of Guyana welcomes these new discoveries Offshore Guyana and reinforces its commitment to the sustainable exploration and development of Guyana’s Oil and Gas Resources. This we commit to do with the highest level of compliance and transparency to ensure that the benefits from this sector improve the lives of all Guyanese.” – Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat 167 feet (51 meters) of net pay in high quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs.

Drilling continues at both wells to test deeper targets, and results will be evaluated for future development.

The Whiptail discovery is located approximately 4 miles southeast of the Uaru1 discovery that was announced in January 2020 and approximately 3 miles west of the Yellowtail field.

Whiptail-1 is being drilled in 5,889 feet (1,795 meters) of water by the Stena DrillMAX. Whiptail-2, which is located 3 miles northeast of Whiptail-1, is currently being drilled in 6,217 feet (1,895 meters) of water by the Noble Don Taylor.

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, in comments said, “The respective discoveries will add to the previously announced gross discovered recoverable resource estimate for the block, which is currently estimated

ator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL). In this regard, the Ministry and the Petroleum Sector regulatory agencies remain committed to working with all operators, in efforts to expedite their respective drill programmes as we seek the sector’s expansion.

“The Government of Guyana welcomes these new discoveries Offshore Guyana and reinforces its commitment to the sustainable exploration and development of Guyana’s Oil and Gas Resources. This we commit to do with the highest level of compliance and transparency to ensure that the benefits from this sector improve the lives of all Guyanese.”

DEVELOPMENTS Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil, Mike Cousins, in commenting on the find, said, “This discov(Turn to page 22)

19

20

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

21

22

‘Transparent effort’ was... (From page 9) town and will observe the process through to its conclusion. “The Mission notes, with concern, that The Carter Center, which deployed a long-term observation mission to the March 2 elections in Guyana, has so far not received the requisite permissions to return to observe the recount,” Golding said.

The OAS Electoral Observation Mission is expected to submit its Final Report upon the conclusion of this process and the determination of the final results of the election.

Notably, OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, on May 5, 2020 requested that the preliminary report on Guyana’s elections be placed on the agenda of the Permanent Council’s meeting. It’s the first issue on agenda. Almagro’s letter to Ambassador Léon Charles, Chair of the Permanent Council and of the General Committee, said: “I have the honor to address Your Excellency to request your kind assistance in having a slot included at the next regular meeting of the

Permanent Council, to give an update on the general elections that took place in Guyana on March 2, 2020.

The presentation will be delivered by the Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission to Guyana, His Excellency Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister of Jamaica.”

The OAS Electoral Observation Mission was one of five international Election Observation Missions accredited to observe Guyana’s General and Regional Elections on March 2, 2020.

Coalition changes its narrative about releasing...

(From page 10)

proceeds,” Golding said.

He referred to the fact that the Statements of Recounts, generated from the recount of the ballot boxes, reflect numbers that are vastly different from those used by the Region 4 RETURNING OFFICER After the first fraudulent declaration of results by Mingo on March 5, 2020, Golding noted that there were clear departures from

established procedures.

On the second fraudulent declaration on March 13, 2020, he said, “It was only after contempt of court proceedings on March 13 that images of Statements of Poll were displayed on a screen.

However, in several instances, the numbers appearing on these Statements of Poll were vastly different from those in the possession of the party representatives. The Returning Officer eventually

issued a new declaration of the results just before midnight on March 13.”

Notably, despite all this, as recent as May 15, 2020, the APNU+AFC Coalition in a statement repeated its claim of an election win.

It said: “It is evident that after a successful first term as President the electorate of Guyana reposed confidence in his leadership and re-elected him for a second term.”

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

ExxonMobil announces... ery increases our confidence in the resource size and quality in the southeast area of the Stabroek Block and could form the basis for a future development as we continue to evaluate the best sequence of development opportunities within the block.”

ExxonMobil envisions at least six projects online by 2027 and sees potential for up to 10 projects to develop its current recoverable resource base.

As it relates to the first development, the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is currently producing about 120,000 barrels of oil per day.

As it relates to the second development, the startup of Liza Phase 2 remains on target for early 2022, and the Liza Unity FPSO expects to sail from Singapore to Guyana in late August 2021.

The Unity has a production capacity of approximately 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

As it relates to the third development, the hull for the Prosperity FPSO vessel is complete, and topsides construction activities are ongoing in Singapore with a startup target of 2024. The first Payara development well was spudded in June 2021, and the offshore SURF installation will begin in 3Q 2021.

Yellowtail has been identified as the fourth development project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana with anticipated startup in 2025.

Following necessary government approvals and a final investment decision, this project will develop the Yellowtail and Redtail fields, which are located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of the Liza developments, and potentially adjacent resources.

The finds at Whiptail-1 and Whiptail-2 are ExxonMobil’s 21st and 22nd find in the Stabroek Block. The oil company’s 20 other discoveries include: 1. Liza

(From page 19)

2. Payara 3. Snoek 4. Liza deep 5. Turbot 6. Ranger 7. Pacora 8. Longtail 9. Hammerhead 10. Pluma 11. Tilapia 12. Haimara 13. Yellowtail-1 14. The Tripletail 15. Mako-1 16. Urau 17. Yellowtail-2 18. Redtail-1 19. Urau-2 20. Longtail-3 The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometers). ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 per cent interest.

23

WEEKEND MIRROR 31 JULY - 1 AUGUST, 2021

APNU+AFC Coalition called out for ‘deliberate’ and ‘reckless’ spread of misinformation

T

COVID vaccination messages released in Indigenous languages T

he Ministry of Health has released a series of audio COVID-19 vaccination messages in the nine indigenous languages to ensure that Guyana’s First Peoples understand the impact of the disease and how to protect themselves.

Minister Health Anthony, in commenting in the move said, “In an effort to reach people and to get over these messages, the Ministry has been able to hire someone who translated messages pertaining to vaccination, the

importance of vaccination, the safety of vaccines in all of the indigenous languages.

We have been playing these as PSAs on the various radio stations and when people go into the community, they have the PSAs that they can walk with so as to use that to explain to people.”

Apart from the indigenous languages, some persons in other regions also speak a mixture of Portuguese and English or Portuguese, and in other areas, Spanish.

Anthony said the Ministry has been able to work with those bilingual or trilingual persons to get the vaccination messages across.

Meanwhile, the Minister is again appealing to faithbased organisations to inform their adherents of the importance of vaccination.

To date, over 247,000 adults in Guyana have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while over 130, 000 have been fully vaccinated against the disease.

he Ministry of Health is forced to respond to the continued, deliberate and reckless misinformation spread by Sherod Duncan. Sherod Duncan is an APNU/AFC MP and we urge the Leader of the Opposition to distant himself from the reckless misinformation that Duncan spews daily.

Clearly, Duncan is dismayed that the PPP Government has been able to secure vaccines for the Guyanese people and that almost 60% (249,000) of the adult population have already received at least one dose of COVID-19 VACCINES, with over 30% (135,000) adults fully vaccinated. Instead of being pleased that our people are being vaccinated, Duncan continues to desperately seek ways to discourage people from taking vaccines. This is utterly irresponsible and it is reckless.

Even as the vaccination numbers drive Duncan into desperation, the “Because We Care” Education cash grant distribution across the country is now making him delusional. In each Region where the cash grant program is being rolled out so far, almost 100%of parents have been coming forward to access the grants. But, in a recent FB post, Sherod Duncan alleges that the PPP Government is seeking to force COVID-19 vaccination for parents as a condition for them receiving their cash grants.

The Ministry of Health continues to roll out the vaccination program as a voluntary exercise.

COVID-19 vaccination in

Guyana is not mandatory.

We continue to urge every Guyanese adult to do the right thing and help stop COVID-19 by taking the vaccine. However, vaccination in Guyana continues to be voluntary.

There is no vaccination eligibility for parents to receive the Education Cash Grant. For the Education Cash Grant, the only eligibility remains that there is a child in school, from nursery to secondary. By the end of this week, more than $1.5B would have been distributed to parents and not one of them have had to prove they were vaccinated against COVID-19. Any such assertion is a deliberate falsehood.

The Ministry of Health has no plans to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory.

The Ministry of Education has no plans to require COVID-19 vaccination to qualify for the cash grant.

The Ministry of Health, therefore, unequivocally rejects Duncan’s desperate attempt to misrepresent the facts. We urge all responsible stakeholders to support the ongoing efforts of the Guyana Government to vaccinate all adults. At the same time, we urge every parent of children in school to obey all the COVID-19 measures as they come forward to receive the “Because We Care” cash grant.

(Ministry of Health)

Construction of Amaila Falls Hydropower project likely for 2022 start T

he PPP/C Government is looking to revive its brainchild, the 165 Megawatts (MW) Amaila Falls Hydropower project (AFHP), with intent to start construction in 2022 and completion in 2025.

Over the weekend, the Office of the Prime Minister published a request for

proposals, which outlines two options for the project’s development.

With the first option, Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), all of the costs of the project up to the commissioning date would be borne by the developer, who would operate the project for a 20-year BOOT period. At

the end of the BOOT period, the project would revert to the Government at no cost.

With the second option, Design-Build-Finance (D-B-F), the developer would finance the development of the project up to commissioning date. The Government would take over the project and fulfill

the financing repayment obligations, only upon and at satisfactory completion of construction and commissioning.

Government expects submissions to contain proposals, including project costs, for each of the two options, and it will choose one.

The development of the

AFHP is needed to fulfill the current development and expansion plan of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), which projects that total capacity required will be 465 MW and energy of 2,900 Gigawatts-hours (GHW) in 2025.

The proposed completion date for the 165 MW AFHP would see it being completed one year after the 300 MW Gas-to-Shore project, which will supply at least 250 MW. Other sources include renewable energy projects (wind, solar and hydro) and heavy fuel oil (HFO). The Government intends for these to make up any balance or serve as back-up.

The Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project was initially expected to deliver a steady source of clean, affordable, reliable renewable energy to meet approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs and remove the country’s dependency on fossil fuels.

NORCONSULT REPORT Notably, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) – an office of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – had hired Norconsult to conduct a study – Review of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project in Guyana.

Norconsult had conducted an independent, factsbased assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project in Guyana. The independent Norway-based engineering and design consultancy firm found that the project is the only realistic path for Guyana to achieve greater levels of renewable energy.

“The fastest way forward is to maintain AFHP as the first major step for substituting its current oil fired generation. AFHP was prioritized as the first hydropower plant because it was the only project with a full feasibility study completed, it has a higher plant load factor than the alternatives, a smaller reservoir and a levelised unit cost in the same range as the most attractive alternatives,” the summary of the 49-page report issued in 2016 said.

The report also highlighted that Hydro power is the only way in which we can achieve the 2025 renewable energy target; that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is the fastest way to get to renewable energy by 2025; that the BOOT model

is the most appropriate way of structuring the project and should be maintained; and that the project should be re-tendered since the last tender was in 2008.

INCREASED CAPACITY The PPP/C Administration envisions that it will be able to provide more than 400 megawatts of newly installed capacity for residential and commercial industrial users over the period 2020 to 2025.

Last year, Prime Minister Mark Phillips noted that the government will continue to pursue low carbon initiatives such as mini-hydropower systems to diversify energy supply. The Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) will play an essential role in this endeavour. The Agency will install hydrological measurement equipment to assess the potential for mini and micro hydropower developments at various locations across the country.

“Data has already been collected at Paruima in Region Seven, and the hydropower engineers are currently preparing a pre-feasibility study for the site. Data is currently being collected at Waramadong in Region Seven. Hydrological logger will soon be installed at Monkey Mountain in Region Eight and Eclipse Falls in Region One to determine the hydropower potential of those sites,” Phillips had said.

Further, the GEA is supporting the Hinterland Electrification Company Incorporation by conducting an energy needs assessment for all 200-plus hinterland communities across the country. Assessments were completed at Sebai, Mainstay/Whyaka and Tapacuma, Moraikobai, Paruima, Waramadong, Kurukubaru, Annai, and Ituni.

In keeping with its manifesto, the PPP/C Government said it remained committed to providing the nation with “cheaper and more reliable electricity”.

The manifesto states that electricity is key for the economic growth of Guyana.

The manifesto said: “In the period up to 2015, the PPP/C ended the blackout norm of the 1980s, and returned a sense of normalcy and stability in the provision of electricity to households, businesses, and industry… generation capacity was installed and increased across the country; on the Coast and Hinterland.”

PUBLISHED BY NEW GUYANA Co. Ltd., Freedom House, Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown, Guyana. Tel: [592] 226-2042 / 227-2095 / 655-0459 / 627-7432