The truth on trial in Guyana

Apr 05, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Two greedy rats were trying to divide a piece of cheese to make sure that each one gets half. They decided to use a scale but still could not settle this simple dispute so they invited an old wise rat who was happy to accommodate. He bit from each piece to arrive at two equal pieces and ended up eating the entire piece of cheese. Does this story sound familiar to what is happening in Guyana?
Election was held in Guyana on March 2nd 2020. The two major political parties did not trust Guyanese to monitor this simple process so they invited a host of high powered, credible international observers who spread themselves all across our nation to monitor our election and they were all satisfied that the election was conducted in a fair and honest manner, which brought high praises from all contesting political parties. The votes were counted and everything seemed to be going well until we got to Region 4 and that is where the “truth went on trial”.
Now, before I proceed, I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not and have never been an active supporter of any political party. I am 74 years old and have never been granted any favour from any politician or party because of affiliation and no one can ever prove that I have ever made a racist statement. Therefore, I think I can qualify myself to speak as an independent.
Now, I am going to put truth on trial and as a Christian, I would like to hold this trial against a verse from the bible, which I am sure all parties will accept because it does not embrace a religious view. It is found in John chapter 8 and verse 32. “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.
This verse makes it abundantly clear that truth brings freedom while dishonesty brings hardship, keeping people in bondage. May God have mercy on anyone or group who attempts to peddle anything that is not the truth, as dishonesty comes with divine consequences which we do not want on our nation.
As we proceed, my advice to our politicians and every Guyanese citizen is, “Truth is more valuable than the new oil discovery. Embrace it as this is the only way we can expect God’s blessing on our nation.”
I am going to list the sequence of events following the elections and will apologize in advance if the dates and or quotes are incorrect. But I would like to invite every Guyanese to be a fair juror and judge truth as presented in this case.
March 04: Local press reports state that after declaration of 8 regions except regions 4 and 8 the opposition leads by roughly 52,500 votes.
March 05: GECOM declares APNU/AFC Coalition wins Region 4 by 59,077 votes. All opposition parties, all local and foreign observers declare that this result was not transparent and had not been verified. Opposition obtains injunction against declaration of election results.
March 11: The Chief Justice ruled that there had been substantial non-compliance by the Returning Officer for Region 4 in his purported declaration of results for that region and that the results are therefore null, void and vacated. Mrs George Wiltshire said that the Returning Officer for Region 4 must produce the Statements of Poll (SOPs) during the tabulation of votes for his electoral district.
March 13: International community walks out on Region 4 counting and GECOM declares Region 4 results similar to previously declared results.
March 14: APNU/AFC Coalition and Opposition leaders agree to a CARICOM supervised recount of the ballots in all ten administrative regions. This was a complimentary move and praised by all parties.
March 15: Senior CARICOM personnel arrived to monitor the recount however, the start of this was delayed for various reasons.
March 17: CARICOM supervised recount aborted because of injunction granted to APNU/AFC Coalition representative to stop the recount.
March 31: Full court determines that injunction was wrongfully granted.
There is much more to be said on this subject, which I am sure you have been obtaining through Facebook, the newspapers, WhatsApp and telephone calls and many of you have come to your own conclusion but I will like each one to revisit everything that has brought us to this stage as we put “the truth on trial”.
Guyana is being threatened with sanctions if a President is sworn in without a transparent counting of all votes. If this happens it will bring serious damage to our country. Sanctions aside, the international community wants the truth and I am sure that once truth is presented and we have evidence to support our presentation they will compliment us, support and help our country on our journey to development.
In the books of Acts chapter 9 and verse 5, Paul the Apostle was warned with these words from God, “It is hard to kick against the pricks which equates to fighting against God.” In fact, he was advised to “stop being stubborn and surrender to the truth.”
Without fear or prejudice, I would like us to call on our politicians, Judiciary, GECOM and all others involved to embrace the truth as this is the only way we can move forward as a nation and be favoured with God’s endorsement.
What is your verdict?

Yours sincerely,
Harold Beharry

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