Elections 2020 COI, a tool used by the PPP/C to sell itself, and attack PNC

Apr 29, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

Having spent millions of dollars on a Presidential COI into the 2020 elections, the big question is what exactly it achieved. The COI was clearly a PPP/C campaign script for future elections. All that was said and recommended is known for years and it was the PPPC that never acted on it.

Who voted for Lowenfield to become CEO at GECOM? It was the PPP/C GECOM Commissioners themselves who supported and even extended Lowenfield employment. As such, they all should resign in shame for choosing a candidate that eventually went rogue. What has the PPP/C done substantially to make GECOM apolitical? The answer is nothing. Now it’s worst since all three top candidates are PPP/C supported officers, namely ACEO, DCEO and CEO. What has the PPP/C done through its Commissioners for Election finance laws over the two decades it has been in power? Nothing.

GECOM is a puppet to whichever party is in government. The following is an extract from the Guyana Chronicle news on 12th February 2023, under the headline, “Independent legal adviser, management training needed for GECOM Chairperson”

“BASED on the evidence submitted to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into events surrounding the 2020 General and Regional Elections, Senior Counsel, Sophia Chote, has signaled the need for the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to benefit from an independent legal adviser and to undergo management training.

According to Chote, the Chairperson of GECOM, Justice (ret’d), Claudette Singh, based on what she said during her testimony, appeared to have dropped the ball on serious issues in the aftermath of the elections. “Can she rely on… all of the commissioners as a resource? And I will say No! Because on partisan matters, they will be split…The chairman perhaps needs to have an independent legal adviser,” Chote said. Surprisingly, none of this was captured in final report. What can ask reasonably ask why? This leads to lots of speculation.

The current DCEO and the issue of procedure relating the hard drive attracted much attention, yet nothing was mentioned. This puts the impartiality of the Commission under question. Clearly, this COI focused on what the PPP/C wants. One is left to see if this document will be presented in the court to bolster the current case, thereby playing well into PPP/C game plan. It contains the exact language PPP/C wants and incriminate the exact persons PPP/C wants.

There is no denial that an attempt was made to rig the 2020 elections. The procedures laid for justice was followed and in the end, a new government was sworn in. The system worked. The PPP/C is no saint in this fiasco. Who are the ones with fake signatures on the backers list for LGE 2023? Who squatted on AFC seat for Linden following the 2006 elections. It was the PPP/C? Who prorogued the Parliament in 2015? It was the PPP/C.

Both sides are culpable of rigging and should halt this back and forth blaming. This country is in a serious governance crisis, abuse of state resources, harassment of media workers, lack of transparency, high nepotism and cronyism, Mae’s embarrassment, while oil revenue is squandered on baseless projects. This matters to Guyanese now, how is the PPP/C fixing these all?

It’s evident that GECOM needs fixing but who will, because an unfixed GECOM benefits the ruling government. The COI is another pageant show for PPPC to ‘gootay’ the past, something that everyone knows about. Moving forward, how different will the PPPC be and do from APNU? It’s left to see what changes will be acted upon and changes to make GECOM better, clearly the COI recommendations are insufficient to effect real change.

Regards,

H. John

Commissioners, GECOM, H. John, PPPC, Presidential COI

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Elections 2020 COI, a tool used by the PPP/C to sell itself, and attack PNC

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