Election Fever – a chapter in Guyana’s history from Dr. Yesu Persaud

Sep 04, 2011 News

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The words “before 1992” and “after 1992” are phrases fraught with meaning for all Guyanese, young and old alike.
For the older folks it speaks of a turning point; good in the opinion of some, not so good in the opinion of others, but irrespective of their opinion of what came after, all of these folks will agree that it was a significant year for the Guyanese people.
On October 5th, 1992, Guyanese went to the polls in what many have since called our first free and fair elections. Whether or not this was actually the case is better left to the historians, but for the rest of us, we can always stand to hear a story.

 

Today we share with you a retelling of some of the events surrounding those elections from one man’s vantage point. The story was so important that its bearer has dedicated an entire chapter to it in the memoirs of his long and colourful life.
As we approach yet another set of elections, the author has shared with us this chapter of his work. It tells a tale of the patriotism, dedication and faith of an entire nation and it would do all Guyanese well to remember that things were not always so simple. That many of the freedoms we enjoy today were dearly bought. And that we must ensure that we do not take these freedoms for granted.
The chapter begins with a little taste of what the parties were offering the people, it tells of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and People’s National Congress (PNC) rallies that attracted in excess of 15,000 people. It tells of the fever that gripped the nation, in fact, that is the chapter’s title: Election Fever 1992. And its author is Dr. Yesu Persaud.
He tells of the call by Rudy Collins, then-Chairman of the Elections Commission, for Electoral Officers from the Private Sector. It was a call that was readily answered with 33 percent of the Electoral Officers coming from the Private Sector after final selections were made.
Being at the helm of Demerara Distillers Ltd (DDL), Dr. Persaud knew for a fact that all of DDL’s Senior Supervisors and Managers had volunteered to serve and most of them were selected as Polling Officers. He himself had been appointed as a Presiding Officer for one of the polling stations adjoining the Peter’s Hall School Polling Office. He would never get the opportunity to fill that post however.
He writes that two days before Polling Day, on October 3, 1992 he was sent for by Collins, who asked him to help out with the Visitors/Observers from overseas at the Command Centre. To honour the request, he had to help find a replacement for his post as Presiding Officer and see that he was trained.

Crisis looms
That taken care of, Dr. Persaud found himself at a State House reception held for the overseas observers on that same evening – a Saturday. The invitees, he recalled, were local VIPs, Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Senior Officials of the Command Centre and, of course, the overseas observers. During the reception the first set of bad news came.
Dr Persaud writes, “I recall vividly the Elections Commission Chairman’s anxiety and his response when he was informed around 8:30pm that 400 to 500 Electoral Officers would not turn out on Election morning.”
Clairmont Lye of the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) told Collins that the EAB, the Private Sector and other Civic Groups would immediately put steps in place to recruit and train 500 persons as Electoral officers on Sunday, October 4 – the following day. He left immediately after. Lye called EAB members and supporters and told them to start recruiting from their friends and families and he telephoned all of the private television stations as well as the radio station launching immediate advertisements calling persons to come forward as Civic Citizens to be trained as Electoral Officers.
After Lye’s departure Mr. David Peterson, former Premier of Ontario, Canada, and head of the Commonwealth Observer team said to Dr. Persaud that “… forces are at work either to derail or prevent the Elections taking place …” and then he asked what they should do to fill the quota of Electoral Officers. Dr. Persaud’s answer was simple. “We could start recruiting right here …” and so the American, Brazilian, Venezuelan, Colombian and Russian Ambassadors, the British, Canadian and Indian High Commissioners and the EU delegate were all approached and they all agreed to ask their staffers to turn  up for training at the Command Centre the following day. Not stopping there, Dr. Persaud recruited thirty more attendees of the reception that he knew personally.
Before he left the reception, another challenge arose. Chairman Collins told him that there needed to be 40 vehicles and drivers on standby at 2am on the coming Monday, Election Day.
The next morning, Sunday, October 4, 1992, Dr. Persaud was in office at 07:00hrs calling for those vehicles. From Beni Sankar, DDL, Vinelli Industries, AINLIM, Laparkan, Beepat and Beesons, Gafoor’s and from the Insurance Industry, as well as the Accounting and Management Staff of these companies, 40 vehicles and drivers had been volunteered by 10:00hrs. They would all be lined up for dispatch with Officials, Ballot Boxes, materials and equipment to the polling stations.
By 10:30am the Chairman called, this time he needed persons to assist with photocopying and collating documents at the Command Centre. Dr. Persaud recalled that his secretary Savitri, who had been at his office all morning helping him locate the vehicles, immediately volunteered and rang a few friends all of whom, without hesitation volunteered to be at the Command Centre at noon.

 

At around 4pm (16:00hrs) that day another challenge arose. The UNDP Consultant informed the Chairman that only one copy of the list would be available for a number of major districts. This was a serious shortfall since several copies were needed for each polling station. Again the Private Sector would come to the rescue. While explaining his predicament to Mr. Bisheswar, Financial Controller of Laparkan who had been training a batch of Officers, Doreen de Caires walked by and heard the conversation. She said “Give me the lists of a few districts and I will get the Insurance Companies and others to photocopy them. We still have time; even if it means working after midnight.” Maurice Solomon of AINLIM answered the request with one word, “Done.”
Dr. Persaud’s secretary, Savitri opened DDL’s office in High Street to start churning out more copies. The EAB office was also assisting as were Kayman Sankar, the insurance companies and many small offices. Mrs. De Caires who took on the responsibility of Coordinator was true to her word and by midnight the lists were completed to the Chairman’s satisfaction.
But even as they surmounted this challenge, another arose. The supplies for each polling station needed to be prepared, an exercise which required the services of about 30 persons. Again, civic-minded citizens came to the rescue. This time it was Fazil Feroze, then-Chairman of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) and Sultan Rahaman, Vice President of the CIOG who were both at the training centre. Upon hearing of the predicament the two men brushed aside Dr. Persaud’s fears that the job wouldn’t get done and promised to return in under an hour. True to their word they returned in 35 minutes with a bus load of 35 young men.

The day
At 2:30am on Election Day all was in readiness and by 4:30am all the boxes and materials had been cleared from the Command Centre and had been dispatched to their respective polling stations. The greatest success however was the training of over 500 persons as Electoral Officers on Sunday, October 4, 1992. They were not all needed and so over 100 of them were put on standby to fill gaps as they occurred. The trucks, buses and cars left with the Elections Officers and materials at 3am, by 5:30am all stations were fully manned and voting in most stations started at 6:00am sharp.
Dr. Persaud made his way to the Command Centre where he met Chairman Collins and the two prepared for what they hoped would be a good day – they would later realise that hope was in vain. The first visitor to the centre was President Jimmy Carter. The former President told Dr. Persaud that he was “very heartened with the long orderly lines of persons waiting to vote at all the stations that he had visited from 6:00am to 8:30am.” President Carter and the American Ambassador at the time, George Fleming Jones, then left to inspect the polling stations in the Interior.

 

But at 11:45am “all hell broke loose in front of the Command Centre of the Elections Commission at Croal and Sendall Place”. A huge crowd had gathered in front of the centre. The crowd was shouting “We want to vote, we want to vote, we want to vote. The Polling stations are refusing to grant us our rights to vote.” It was later found out that most of the protesters had either not registered or could not produce any acceptable form of identification at the place of poll which was the voting requirement at the time. As the crowd grew larger a few vehicles arrived quietly with stones.
The protestors began to rain bricks on the Command Centre shattering all the glass windows and all the while they were threatening to burn the building to the ground forcing the personnel to be evacuated through the rear of the building. The Chairman refused to leave his post, however, and even went so far as to confront the riotous crowd. He told them that if they wanted to vote they needed to stand in an orderly line and with their identity cards and passports. Ballot papers were handed out and a Special Ballot box was prepared.
At this point in time, Dr. Persuad writes, a senior political functionary arrived and told the crowd that they were being tricked into thinking that their votes would be counted. At this announcement a large section of the crowd went off to Regent Street and began looting the stores. The Police were nowhere to be seen on Camp or Regent Streets.
Meanwhile President Carter and his entourage as well as the American Ambassador had returned. They braved the crowds to make their way to the Command Centre to receive the welcoming news that attempts to destroy the building and stop the Electoral Process had not succeeded. President Carter spoke to President Hoyte and the Army was called out to restore order.

The results
After the polls closed, Officers counted the votes at the place of poll in the presence of Political Party Representatives, scrutineers and observers. Results started coming into the Command Centre at 9:30pm and by midday the next day the results were announced. The PPP has won the elections by a margin of 9 percent.
Dr. Persaud wrote in this chapter of his book, “What seemed an impossible task had been accomplished very smoothly and all those who participated felt an immense sense of relief and congratulated one another on a job well done. There was no doubt that dark forces were at work to derail the Elections. But this was not to be. They had ignored the fact that these were the first free elections in 28 years and civil society was prepared to help, irrespective of time. The Chairman had called on civil society to render assistance and civil society took this responsibility with great honour and pride and delivered the goods to his total satisfaction.”

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