Shuman tells of Mingo making premature declaration, former minister threatening observers

Nov 09, 2022 News

COI into 2020 elections…

Kaieteur News – The Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the March 2020 General and Regional Elections on Tuesday continued with Lenox Shuman, the then Presidential candidate for the Liberty Justice Party (LJP) testifying.

Lenox Shuman, Presidential Candidate for the Liberty Justice Party (LJP)

Shuman, now Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, testified about the events that occurred at the Ashmin’s building- the seat of the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, which was located at Hadfield and High Streets, Georgetown. The ballots for District Four were tabulated at the Ashmin’s building. According to Shuman’s testimony during the tabulation of the votes for Region Four, there were several discrepancies in the figures that were being called by Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees. To this end, he explained that the figures that GECOM that did not corroborate with the Statements of Poll (SOPs) himself, and other party agents received from other party members that worked at the various polling stations. To this he stated that several objections were made by party members for all other parties except agents representing the APNU+AFC Coalition. Notwithstanding the objections made, Shuman stated that R.O Mingo still went ahead to declare what he described as a ‘premature declaration.’

Shuman stated that when Mingo attempted to make the declaration he was faced with party members protesting. Notably, Shuman stated that Mingo only went ahead to make the declaration after a team of former Government Ministers stormed into the Ashmin’s building and held a discussion. Moreover, Shuman also testified to witnessing former Foreign Affairs Minister, Karen Cummings, threatening international and local observers to revoke their accreditation.

On Monday, Former Executive Member of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Jonathan Yearwood and Executive Member of The New Movement, Dr. Josh Kanhai, testified witnessing discrepancies with the tabulation of the votes and other incidents that occurred at the Ashmin’s building. The CoI is being conducted by Justice of the Appeal (ret’d) of the Turks and Caicos, Stanley John, who is the Chairman of the Inquiry as well as former Chancellor of the Judiciary (Guyana), Carl Singh, and High Court Judge (Belize) and former Justice of Appeal (ag.) in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Godfrey P. Smith.

The Commission is tasked with determining what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert and prevent the counting, ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and a declaration of the true results of Electoral District No. 4 as prescribed by the Law. They will also enquire into the conduct of the Chief Elections Officer and other Election Officials. The COI commenced last Friday with Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of GECOM Vishnu Persaud, being the first to take the stand. Kaieteur News reported that during his testimony, Persaud was asked if he is aware of security footage from inside of Ashmin’s building during the elections period. The Chief Elections Officer responded that even though he has the responsibility to keep track of all the records of GECOM – he has no knowledge of the security footage from inside Ashmin’s building. He said, “No I am not aware that any such footage is available. In fact, I did enquire and I was informed that the cameras were installed in that building on the instructions of the former Chief Elections Officer, and that might have been done by a private service provider.” “Nobody seems to know when the cameras were removed nor where the footage might be, and in terms of records, may I venture, when I assumed office, the computers which should have had information or could have had information in that regard were wiped clean,” the Chief Elections Officer added. Persaud assumed office in December 2021, months after his predecessor, Keith Lowenfield was terminated. Second to testify was Edgar Thomas, Commander of Regional Division 4A during the 2020 elections. Thomas testimony was centered on the incidents that occurred at the Ashmin’s building including the incidents among former top officials of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).