Election reports must include Crum-Ewing’s assassination

Apr 09, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
During and after this election campaign in Guyana, international observers will submit their pre- and post-election assessment of the general elections to be held on May 11. Those reports will cover, among other topics, the question of whether there had been any election-related violence.
While the observer teams often try to be fair, there are times when they have gotten it wrong. Perhaps the most memorable example of this was the Carter Center’s assessment of the 1989 general elections in Panama under the dictator (Maximum Leader) Manuel Noriega.
I remember watching a breaking news story showing the bodyguard of a vice presidential candidate being shot at point blank range in front of television cameras. Shortly after, the Carter Center held a press conference where they declared that the election was relatively free of violence.
This position by the Carter Center may have emboldened Noriega, as he later declared the election results ‘null and void’. To support him, he invited several friends from Latin America and the Caribbean to stand with him to condemn American interference in his country’s internal affairs. Fortunately for the Panamanian people, that show of support did not deter President George HW Bush from ensuring that democracy prevailed in Panama. Today, Panama is a vibrant democracy and a major financial hub in this hemisphere.
Election observer teams have become critical to ensuring free, fair and transparent elections, particularly in countries like Guyana where some of the other requisites of democracy such as independent judiciary, free and independent media and Government transparency are not fully in place.   While most Guyanese have some level of confidence in the Guyana Elections Commission and Chairman Surujbally, there is an acknowledgement that GECOM alone cannot ensure that the elections are free.   The presence of International observer/monitor teams is therefore crucial, providing they are perceived by all parties as being impartial.
For this election cycle, Guyana has invited several organizations and countries to send observer teams to monitor the elections. Perhaps the most notable of these is the Organization of American States (OAS). During the 2011 elections, the OAS deployed a team consisting of 25 members from 14 countries including Venezuela. In its final report, the OAS made no mention of election-related violence. As a matter of fact, the OAS offered praise stating “It is especially commendable, in light of the ethnic and racial nature of Guyanese politics, that this, along with the other electoral processes dating back to 2001 have been carried out in an environment of relative peace and mutual respect.”
The killing of Courtney Crum-Ewing has changed this, and now we do not expect the same praise from the OAS or any other observer mission reporting on this year’s election. Crum-Ewing was found shot to death shortly after he had been using a public address system to encourage residents to vote against the ruling party.   His body was found in the streets riddled with bullet holes, his bullhorn a few feet away. The Police are yet to solve this case.
Courtney Crum-Ewing was a political activist. He was killed during the election campaign season. He was shot execution-style. Could somebody have ordered this assassination?   If so, who? Whatever the answer, one thing is for sure. This killing must be noted in the electoral observation missions’ final reports. Without this, those reports cannot be given credence.
Max Mohamed

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News