COI into 2020 election fiasco begins on November 3

Oct 15, 2022 News

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– to zoom in on conduct of GECOM officers in Region 4

Kaieteur News – The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the 2020 election fiasco that caused a five-month long delay in declaring Guyana’s new government, is set to zoom in on the conduct of former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officers, some of whom are before the court on election fraud charges. This is highlighted in the Terms of Reference (ToRs) set out in the probe that was promised by President Irfaan Ali after his party was finally declared winner of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.

So far, retired Trinidad and Tobago Judge, Stanley John, who is the Chairman of the Commission, retired Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana, Justice Carl Singh and former Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith have been sworn in to their positions.

The ToR for the presidential CoI notes however that the Commission will, among other things, examine, “the conduct of the Chief Elections Officer, other Elections Officers, and others in respect of the discharge and execution of the statutory duties of the Chief Elections Officer prescribed by section 96 and 97 of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) Chap. 1:03.” The Commissioners will look into the conduct of the Returning Officer of electoral District No. 4 and other elections officers in execution of their tabulation and declaration of votes duty under the relative sections of the RoPA, and whether any attempts were made to prevent “the declaration of the true results” of votes polled for electoral District No. 4. The Commission will also examine whether any attempts were made to “obstruct, frustrate, subvert and prevent a decision of the Guyana Elections Commission made on the 14th day of March, 2020, to conduct a national recount of the votes polled at the General and Regional elections”, of March 2, and if so, by whom.

Both main political parties, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) have accused each other of election fraud. For the most part, the PPP/C is saying that “flagrant attempts” were made to alter the results of the elections. Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo and former CEO Keith Lowenfield are accused of tampering with elections data that gave untrue results of the 2020 elections in favour of the former APNU+AFC-government, while the APNU+AFC is accusing the PPP/C of voter impersonation where they claim that that party used the identification cards of deceased and overseas based Guyanese to increase the number of votes cast in their favour.

Both Lowenfield and Mingo are before the court with other persons for attempting to tilt  the elections in favour of the now opposition party, while an election petition by the APNU+AFC is challenging the results of the 2020 polls that gave the PPP/C the win. Ahead of the presidential CoI, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, wrote the GECOM requesting information regarding the voter impersonation that was provided by the APNU+AFC during the 2020 recount. It was revealed by GECOM that it had sent the voter impersonation claims made by the APNU+AFC to the relevant state authorities at the time to ascertain who voted while out of the country, and those dead but cast a ballot.

Opposition and government GECOM Commissioners Vincent Alexander and Sase Gunraj respectively, confirmed to the Kaieteur News that all information was released to the government; that included not only the information from the opposition, but the “verified” data from the state agencies. A decision was made for the information to be released to the opposition also. The AG had said that the government was interested in investigating the conduct of the state agencies in providing the alleged verified information at the time and thus wrote the current head of the Guyana Police Force to investigate the matter to determine the “veracity of the data” contained in the documents.

The contention over the 2020 elections continues to widen for several reasons which include the delay in the APNU+AFC election petition, the fact that GECOM, with sole responsibility for local elections, has refused to conduct an internal review of its own systems and officers during the 2020 elections, that the upcoming CoI could clash with ongoing court cases and the fact that the PPP/C government, which was also a contender in the 2020 elections, had all the say in setting up the elections CoI.

Shadow Attorney General, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde had said that he is interested in seeing how the CoI conducts its work without affecting ongoing court cases, something, he said, that President Ali recognizes as he spoke about striking the “delicate balance” of having a CoI running concurrently with ongoing (election) criminal cases. The President had promised the CoI since 2020 but had cited the ongoing court cases as reason for his hesitation.

At a press conference, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that the government was not keen on the CoI since it believed that persons before the court for election fraud would not want to participate in the CoI because they have matters engaging the court. Forde said, however, that the timing of the CoI is highly questionable since it was announced to be set up “…at the peak of the “Su-gate” scandal,” involving bribery and other allegations against Vice President, Jagdeo, at the 74^th anniversary of the Enmore Martyrs, “…a significant event for the PPP.”

More importantly, Forde said that given the sensitivity of the election matter, and the fact that the PPP/C was a competing party in those troubling elections, it was expected that the President, at the very least, would have consulted with other political parties, and encourage the co-design of the Commission and its Terms of Reference (TOR). He said that the President could have used a broad-based approach to set up the COI, but the approach that was used has now left room for “the wide-spread perception that PPP/C party affiliates could have a free hand to covertly indulge in actions inimical to other opposition and minority parties…”  He added that of all the political parties that contested the March 2, 2020 Elections, it could not be that only one, – “the PPP/C – gets to pick the team that would investigate the processes, by which that party won the elections”, giving itself an advantageous position over other political parties.

One elections stakeholder told the Kaieteur News that, “to a large extent, the commission is inquiring into the matters that are before the court.” He said that the recount itself is not a feature of the probe, “hence issues unearthed there are being ignored,” making the Commission seem “agenda driven.”

The election commission will, nonetheless, make recommendations as is sees fit in relation to GECOM in the discharge of its functions under the RoPA. The CoI will commence on November 3 at 95 Middle Street, Georgetown. Citizens with evidence relating to the CoI’s ToR may call 231-9820 and 231-9828 or email at [email protected]. The team has about seven months to conduct its work and deliver a report to the president.

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