Please investigate these matters

Mar 09, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

I have been following your newspaper’s reporting on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI) and I am reminded of a childhood story character, Rumpelstiltskin, an imp who possessed the magical ability to spin straw into gold, in the German fairy tale told by the Brothers Grimm. Many of the voluntary witnesses before the COI have produced lots of straw but few, if any, nuggets and it remains to be seen if the Commission’s abilities can approximate Rumpelstiltskin’s.

I am more intrigued, however, with your reporting that Attorney-General Nandlall, who also gave testimony before the COI, has vowed not to let the several fraud charges brought against some former election managers and opposition political party agents about two years ago to fall away. The charges range from misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit fraud, forging a document and forgery relating to the conduct of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. Attorney General Nandlall explained that the government was an important stakeholder interested in the outcome of these charges and, as a citizen who prioritizes his voting rights, I consider myself not nearly as important but equally interested in this matter. I also share his concern as to why these cases have not progressed with the alacrity and seriousness that they demand and that all citizens have a right to know.

The report, some time ago, that several boxes containing Statements of Poll (SOPs) and Statements of Recount (SORs), for each defendant, had been delivered to the court had forewarned that this matter would not be expedited, nor could it. The publicly known fact that almost all SORs contradicted the corresponding SOP in every district (1-10) and that fraud is not alleged in every case, in every district, and against all Returning Officers raises the question as to the relevance of this information to the prosecution. Moreover, the SORs were prepared under a different electoral system, and by different election officers, and is under dispute in a higher court.

What seems to be ignored, deliberately or otherwise, is the supposed existence of significant numbers of SOPs that contradicted the SOPs used by District 4 Returning Officer, Mingo, to steal votes from the PPP/C. The leaders of at least 5 political parties (ANUG, CJ, LJP, PPP/C, TCI) that participated in the elections had publicly, and repeatedly, claimed to possess actual physical evidence of election fraud, i.e., SOPs that reflected very significant increases for APNU+AFC and corresponding decreases for PPP/C, the sum total of which reflected a divergence of over 22,000 votes.

We cannot forget that it was the alleged existence of competing SOPs (not SORs), and the virulent demands for verification that led to the disruption of the tabulation of results for District 4 and derailing of a final declaration; the storming of GECOM’s Command Centre and the harassment of election officials; violent, destructive and deadly street protests; many legal challenges; amendment to the electoral laws and the overturning of valid election results and to ignore such powerful, potential evidence is irresponsible, contemptuous and suggestive of misconduct in public office, and demands an explanation.

Otherwise, reasonable, and reasoning, minds could conclude that such wilful ignorance is because the authorities know these claims to be A Big Lie and that no such SOPs exist, or ever existed, and that no such fraud was committed by the persons charged, and ultimately, that the PPP/C did not gain office legitimately; that it was only a ruse to discredit, disrupt, dismantle and substitute valid election results and unseat a legitimate government. Where, I wonder, are all those self-styled “Defenders of Democracy” who exuded vigilance and outrage, and demanded verification or else, then; don’t they want to see the proof of fraud now, instead of baseless and bombastic sloganeering, and those responsible held accountable?

I wish to applaud the Attorney General for his dedication to duty and the interests of the citizens he serves and respectfully suggest that he, or some other important and interested party, should enquire whether the DPP or Police has interviewed these parties and sought to obtain such crucial evidence and hope that his efforts will shed much needed light on this matter. I believe that if they had done so this matter would perhaps have been concluded by now. Clearly, the Presidential COI clearly has no ability, or interest, in enquiring into this matter and is not the vehicle, I believe, to lay this matter to rest. The Guyana Elections Commission seems even more recalcitrant, then and now, in seeking out these spectral SOPs that had such a determinative effect on the outcome of the elections or is it that some important stakeholders are satisfied that these phantom SOPs have served their intended purpose and been permanently retired.

Sincerely,

Oscar Dolphin

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• Attorney General Nandlall, General and Regional Elections, German, Oscar Dolphin, Presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI)

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