CoI Commissioners visit scene of elections drama

Nov 29, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – A team of officials attached to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 2020 Regional and General Elections on Monday visited the former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre located at Ashmin’s Building.

The aim of the visit was to conduct an onsite inspection of the scene where the elections drama unfolded. The guided tour of the premises was led by former executive member of the New Movement Party (NMP) Dr. Josh Kanhai, former Tabulation Supervisor attached to GECOM, Anil Giddings and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Edgar Thomas.

Kanhai and Giddings provided an overview of what transpired at the former Command Centre during the March 2020 elections to the Members of Commission which included Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Stanley John,  Former Belizean High Court Judge and Justice of Appeal (ag) in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Godfrey Smith, SC, and Former Chancellor of the Judiciary,  Carl Singh.

The duo directed the officials to the tabulation room and the offices of the former Chief and Deputy Chief Elections Officers. Giddings said that despite having cameras installed in the key areas of the building, no systems were established to monitor and or retrieve data from the footage at the command centre. “The cameras were actually in the room on the walls in the ceiling. There were maybe two cameras outside on that ceiling, just outside of the tabulation centre pointing toward the entrances and so forth…” Giddings said.

Prior to the site visit, Rosalinda Rasul an Elections Observer for the American Chamber of Commerce Guyana (AmCham) took the witness stand at the COI headquarters in Middle Street. Rasul told the Commission that she was present at the Ashmin’s Building from March 3 to 5, where suspicious events regarding the tabulation and declaration of the votes for Region Four unfolded.

On March 3, Rasul claimed that the actions of Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo started to reek of suspicion as his numbers failed to correspond with the tabulation of officials of the Opposition parties and Elections Observers.

Rasul recounted that Roxanne Myers, who was GECOM’s Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) at the time, told those gathered in the Ashmin’s Building that a decision was taken to limit the number of agents and observers present. She said that Myers told Party Agents and Observers that only three per mission would be allowed in the building since GECOM staffers felt threatened by the number of people in the tabulation room.

She recalled that the count was stalled by a number of events including one which Mr. Mingo purportedly fell ill and needed emergency medical attention.  The witness recounted that he was rushed to seek emergency medical attention by an ambulance awaiting him outside the building. The witness said a series of questionable activities unfolded thereafter.

According to Rasul, GECOM staffers were then instructed to use a spreadsheet continuing unverified numbers, purportedly drawn from Statements of Polls (SOPs). “There were lots of objections by everyone except the APNU+AFC (agents) about the use of the spreadsheet. There were questions about why this was being used when it was mandatory to use the SOPs,” she said adding that “Junior GECOM staffers, who were calling figures from the spreadsheet, could not answer why this was now being used,” she recounted.

Eventually, she said then GECOM CEO, Keith Lowenfield told the Agents and Observers that this spreadsheet was being used for expediency. Rasul claimed too that Lowenfield ignored many of the complaints that were raised by the Opposition Parties and International Observers.

The witness claimed that, “There was no explanation on how that spreadsheet was derived; he did not answer that specific question. Additionally, he said that if anyone had any objections or saw any deviation, then they will bring out the specific SOPs to check it.” The Presidential CoI was set up to inquire into what transpired during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections. Upon its completion, recommendations are to be made to all for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to discharge its constitutional functions in a manner that is impartial, fair, and compliant with the law.

President Irfaan Ali, under whose hand the Commission was established, had said that the findings will be used to hold persons accountable, especially if they are found to be involved in any attempts to rig the polls. Evidence during inquiry is being led by Trinidadian Senior Counsel, Sophia Chota, Natasha Veira, and Keoma Griffith.

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