Biometrics and elections 2025

Feb 13, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor

From time to time, I wonder if Guyana is indeed a part of this world OR if we are living on a planet all by ourselves. We have had elections from the 1940’s to as recent as 2020, elections which in previous years, especially during the 1960’s to 1985, have been described by reputable international journalists, as “crooked as barbed wire.

Before this declaration and after, severe difficulties were placed in their way to enter the country. Physical violence before, during and after the elections, and countless other obstacles were introduced to prevent their reporting on the mechanisms used to blatantly, unsophisticatedly, barefacedly RIGGING and manipulation of the Elections results.

One can imagine if the international media were made to go through these imposed hurdles, what the local media had to face to inform the Guyanese people and the world, to what extent the riggers went to thief an entire country over and over. Imagine, and these unbelievable occurrences are well documented and videos still circulate, that at locations where persons were registered to vote OVERSEAS, horses roamed, railway stations were situated. Investigators doing independent verifications of persons appearing on the overseas voters’ list found that more than NINETY PERCENT of such persons did NOT exist, and these names were absolutely fictitious.

The Guyana elections from 1968 to 1985 were so shamelessly rigged, that not even the membership and supporters of the Peoples’ National Congress (PNC), which spearheaded and supervised the rigging, could accept that the PNC ever won an election.

The leadership and trusted membership of the PNC manipulated the Courts (the PNC flag was shamelessly flown at the Court of Appeal). The Elections Commission, and its chairman at one time Sir Harry Bollers, a former Chief Justice, were absolutely and totally discredited for their defence of the massive rigging of the elections they were responsible for conducting.

Editor, you and others in the media, academics at the University of Guyana and of the West Indies, in Africa (I remember speaking in Brazil,  to a professor from the University of Tanzania who was exceedingly knowledgeable about the history of elections rigging in Guyana, throughout Asia, Europe, North and South America, and ESPECIALLY the Caribbean were all cognizant of what was taking place in Guyana, to keep the PPP from assuming their role as the legitimate Government of Guyana, and did NOT raise a finger or utter a word to defend the people of Guyana. In fact, they welcomed with open arms the chief rigger and his lieutenants to their “clubs”.

Fast forward to 1992, when it took the late President Carter to “negotiate” changes to the mechanisms for conducting the elections, such as the counting of the ballots cast at the place of poll, immediately after the close of poll, and for the results to be posted outside the polling places, for the public’s viewing.  Even after the results of the polls clearly showed that the PPP/C was the winner of the elections, the PNC refused to accept the verdict of the people and do the honourable thing to concede that it had lost. REMEMBER the fury of the one who now hypocritically refers to himself as an “elder”, after Hoyte was made to concede, with venom and spittle being ejected from his mouth, broke away from the PNC?  Those actions speak volumes of the undemocratic nature of those who would mount the roof tops and espouse democracy, calling almost daily for meaningless impositions such as BIOMETRICS for the 2025 elections.

To address their voices in the wilderness, I’d like to ask them to FIRST produce their much talked about SOP’s to prove that the 2020 elections did not result in a PPP/C victory.

Being the responsible, mass Party they claim to be, I may be wrong, but I assume they had agents in more than 95% if not 100% of the polling places, so the SOP’s signed off by their agents would be quite revealing. WHY HIDE THEM IN A VAULT OR BURY THEM UNDERGROUND SOMEWHERE? Would these SOP’s ever see the light of day?

Secondly, let them show to the Guyanese people how the absence of the BIOMETRICS they are advocating for the 2025 elections, resulted in the disenfranchisement of ANY ELIGIBLE/LEGITIMATE voter in the 2020 elections.

I remember THEIR PRONOUNCEMENTS at the close of polls, that the elections were conducted in an acceptable manner. WE all know what transpired for FIVE MONTHS after.

Let us have the names and particulars of the Russians who two AFC Ministers (Cathy and Kemmy) apparently “deported” (on elections day?).

Let them produce the names of persons who voted but should NOT have done so.

Let them produce the names of the dead they tried to resurrect and to vote.

Let them state the names of persons who were NOT in Guyana on elections day, who voted and where those votes were cast.

Reasonable people in Guyana (and I assume the vast majority are) do NOT see the need to change Laws, rules, mechanisms, safeguards and mechanisms in place to guarantee transparent elections. Let me be clear on this, before I’m accused, I haven’t conducted a poll but I speak with the “man in the street” and am convinced that the call by the opposition elements for BIOMETRICS is NOT resonating with eligible voters in Guyana.

 

I can’t help but thinking (with the history of these opposition parties and their members on GECOM) that knowing their unnecessary call for BIOMETRICS would be rejected, some other spurious calls would be attempted, setting the stage for what they’re best at, MISCHIEF.

MY comment on the size of the voters’ list is that ALL political parties “worth their salt” should do the leg work and submit to GECOM the names of ineligible persons on the lists, ACCOMPANIED WITH THE NECESSARY EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THEIR CLAIMS.

I’ll rest my arguments, for now.

Regards,

H N Nawbatt 

(Biometrics and elections 2025)

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• Elections, Elections results, international journalists, manipulation, rigging

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