DISHONESTY IS NOT THE BEST POLICY

May 17, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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This whole system of government will be discredited unless there are free and fair elections. But the real danger is that without the acceptance of the will of the people, the population will be subject to the dictates of tyrants.
Those who rig elections today are going to feel that they have license to do as they please and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Nothing.
Guyanese have had a taste of what to expect. They have seen how the government invented its own interpretations of the Constitution first to override the requirement that the Chairperson of GECOM must come from a list supplied by the Leader of the Opposition and, later to claim that it had to have a say in the nomination of names for the position.
The government used every delaying tactic available to nullify the passage of the no-confidence motion. It resorted to court challenges in order to avoid resigning within the three-month period specified by the Constitution.
The Guyana Elections Commission has been compromised. The elections declarations in District 4 were tainted an the PNCR wanted to benefit from this. We have witnessed the machinations which have been on display to seek to have GECOM use the flawed declarations to decide the results. We have seen the shenanigans to try to frustrate the recount and turn it into a procedural audit of the elections.
The PNCR does not have a democratic tradition. Never had.
This is the moral dilemma which faces its supporters. They are being asked to participate in a process in which the will of the people is supposed to be accepted. But instead they are being treated to a display of the will of the party being more important than the wishes of the people.
The party is spending millions to retain a foreign firm to lobby for it in the USA. But little relief is coming the poor’s way to help them put food on the table during the pandemic.
The actions of the PNCR has generated moral confusion in the minds of the people. It will poison a generation of young people to believe that it is right to be dishonest and to cheat. This is the legacy which the PNCR is passing on to the young people of this country.
The PNCR is setting the worst possible example. How can the public be asked to obey the laws and directives issued by government when they see the very government being complicit in electoral fraud? How can our children be asked not to cheat in examinations, when they see how easy it is for politicians to cheat and when they notice so many parents giving tacit support to this form of dishonesty? How can the public be asked to respect property when their most fundamental property – their vote – is being stolen in front of their faces?
One of the observers from the Private Sector Commission noted that he had never witnessed a more brazen attempt at rigging an election than what he saw at the Ashmin Building. The former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, said that what took place was the most transparent attempt he had ever seen to alter the results of an election. The Caricom Representative to the Organization of American States noted that if each of the political parties genuinely believe it has won, then they should have no fear of the current recount, and they should all support it.
The present actions of the PNCR suggests that it is prepared to rule illegitimately. This is an ominous development because those who do not respect the ballots would not respect the rights of people.
When dictatorship takes root, the rights of citizens will be threatened. Already the press has been subject to harassment, threats and intimidation. There have been attempts to use state power to prevent persons from observing the recount.
It will get worse if an illegitimate regime is installed. The police will do as they please, as they did during the era of dictatorship between 1968 and 1992.
One of the reasons why one organization had broken ties with the PNC, under Burnham, is because they were concerned about the molestation of women. This is not something that we would wish to return.
There are many persons who had their properties compulsory acquired during the Burnham era. The compensation was grossly inadequate. We are not yet into a dictatorial mode and already, the Berbice River Bridge has been compulsory acquired and steps are being taken to compulsory acquire the Ocean View International Hotel. There was an attempt to acquire a piece of land which was owned by a member of the PNCR. If dictatorship returns, then private property will be under greater threat.
What is happening now is therefore of importance to all Guyanese regardless of political affiliation. If the PNCR returns Guyana to dictatorship, God help this country!

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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