No place for riggers in the Caribbean Community

Feb 20, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – The Prime Minister of Barbados is fully au fait with Guyana’s internal dynamics. Not only was she familiar with the attempt to steal the March 2020 elections but she must have known who were some of the actors, both inside and outside of GECOM, who were part of or who gave tacit support to this diabolical plot to snatch national sovereignty.
As a consequence of that plot, an explosive situation was developing locally. That plot also had dire implications for the region, as it could have been replicated to deny electoral democracy in other parts of the Caribbean. It was in recognition of the danger which was posed to democracy in Guyana and in the Caribbean and the social and ethnic and economic implications of rigged elections in Guyana, that Prime Minister Mottley led a high-level Caricom team to Guyana to help resolve the ensuing crisis.
She remained engaged from that first visit until the crisis was resolved on 2nd August, 2020. She fully understood what was taking place and the political vagabonds behind the deadly plot to derail electoral democracy.
After the dubious attempt was made to disenfranchise more than 100,000 voters, following the recount, she came out publicly against this attempt. In a statement, issued on behalf of the entire Caribbean Community, she expressed concerns about this attempt which she observed was contrary to the directions given by the Guyana Elections Commission and which did not “reflect the results of the recount process as certified by the very staff of the Guyana Elections Commission and witnessed by representatives of the political parties.”
Noting that the CARICOM Observer Team which scrutinized the recount was of the unshakeable belief that the people of Guyana expressed their will at the ballot box on March 2 and, “that the results of the recount, certified as valid by the staff of GECOM, led to an orderly conclusion on which the declaration of the results of the Election would be made.”
For those who do not know, Prime Minister Mottley is a legal luminary and Queens Counsel, the Barbadian equivalent of a Senior Counsel. She questioned on what grounds and on the basis of what executive fiat the votes of 115,000 voters could be invalidated, when these votes were already certified as valid by officers of the Guyana Elections Commission in the presence of the political parties.
In what was perceived as a clear dig at local political forces, which were frustrating the finalisation of the declaration of the elections’ results, she said, “The role and focus of political parties must be useful and not obstructive in embracing and promoting the clear and expressed will of the people. When we confuse and frustrate that will, is when we begin to sow the very seeds of discord and acrimony that we are sworn to dissuade and discourage.”
For taking such a principled stand – one that no previous Caricom Chairperson had ever taken concerning elections in Guyana – she was soundly criticized by the usual local suspects.
She was subsequently asked a question, by a reporter, about the push back over her comments. She replied, “The truth hurts…I have nothing more to say. The truth hurts but what we must never do in CARICOM is to avoid the truth and avoid our principles.”
The Prime Minister of Barbados has never been shy about making her views known. And the positions that the leaders of the Caribbean Community took in relation to the 2020 elections in Guyana demonstrated not only their understanding of the local dynamics but also the dangers to the values of the Caribbean posed by those who wanted to return Guyana to the days of political dictatorship.
She was not the only Caribbean leader who came out against the attempted rape of democracy. The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an eminent attorney, made it clear that the regional integration body was not going to tolerate anybody stealing an election. He reminded the sore losers that, “When you take part in an election, there is always a chance that you will lose… and if you lose ‘take your licks like a man’.”
The Prime Minister of Barbados and her colleagues in the Caribbean want nothing to do with those who were complicit in or spun narratives which were aimed at supporting the attempt to rape electoral democracy in Guyana. No wonder they are not going six feet within reach of them.
(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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