Dear Editor,
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall is ‘on the ball’ yet again. This time, in another ‘calling of APNU/AFC’s bluff,’ the astute, perceptive and brave attorney “… has requested that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) investigate the claims made by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) that ballots were cast by dead people and persons living overseas.” I can feel the fear of APNU/AFC already. They are getting what they wanted (or thought they had wanted) and now it’s choking them to death.
First, let me sound the reminder. It was the APNU/AFC that were accusing GECOM of failing to act on evidence of voter impersonation during the 2020 elections. By the way, this only came up after the initial vote count, as reflected in the certified Statements of Polls (SoPs), was thrown into disarray by the weird ‘permutations and combinations’ from the collusive efforts of the following erstwhile officers: Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield; his deputy, Roxanne Myers, and Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Let’s keep in mind that APNU/AFC were in the cul-de-sac of their defeat, that was supposed to be concretised from a proper tabulation of the count, based on veritable SoPs. So, their shenanigans of attempted escapes led to a recount that they brokered. This of course eventuated to what all had already known, that is the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) were the victors of the 2020 elections. During and up this point, APNU/AFC kept on trying to derail or ‘illegalise’ the elections by coming up with far too many and frivolous complaints. Ultimately, we are now engrossed in this senseless, last minute ‘tentative désespérée’ claims of voter fraud from the APNU/AFC camp.
I mean, it is crunch time and they are running scared. Why? Their claim all along has been that GECOM has the list of the impersonators but never acted on it. Then why is it that they are against GECOM’s releasing of the very list, their supposed trump card, that they are supposed to be banking on for acquittal? How silly it is to hide behind the sophistry that says “…the details are already in the elections petition submission.”
As we can see, the ‘running for cover’ never stops, so the big original lie now morphs into “… some persons were ‘mistakenly’ included in their evidence which they claim provides proof of voter impersonation at the 2020 General and Regional Elections.”
Editor, the AG is therefore absolutely right. He, on behalf of the Government, has asked that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) investigate these absurd claims made by APNU/AFC) “… that ballots were cast by dead people and persons living overseas.” The fright and embarrassment are growing for APNU/AFC. They never expected that their bluff would have been called. So, proving time at every juncture is driving them towards a ‘dead end.’ It was funny how they got mad when upon request by the AG, the elections body last week released to the Office of the Attorney General “… those documents that were submitted by the then APNU/AFC in its bid to discredit the Official List of Electors (OLE) used in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.” I mean this should have been their ‘grand slam’ moment and conversely the dread of the PPP/C. Instead, it is the reverse.
Again, rightfully and logically so, the next phase is to use those very documents provided by GECOM, for the corroboration of the data gathered by the coalition. Nobody wants to hear about mistakes at this late hour. All honest people want “…the determination of the veracity of the data contained in the documents as well the authenticity of some of the documents themselves and all matters and actions of persons connected therewith.”
After all, APNU/AFC are claiming that they delivered documents “…claiming to show that dead people and persons who were overseas on Election Day voted at the elections, as well as documents to claim that there were cases of multiple voting.” And as the AG pointed out, “These allegations continue to be peddled in the public domain by leaders and representatives of the aforesaid political entity. At the time and until now, the impression conveyed is that these documents and/or data were generated by and obtained from the official lawful repository of the specific information, for example, the Immigration Department, the Guyana Police Force, and the General Registrar’s Office.” What we have then is that all relevant State agencies must probe thoroughly in order to give fairness to APNU/AFC and credibility to themselves.
I guess readers can see why “the Opposition-aligned Commissioners at GECOM had objected to the release of the documents in question, a move which Nandlall has since expressed is indicative of the APNU/AFC’s lack of credibility”. This is obvious.
Succinctly put then, the AG summarised everything, stating that “… these are the guys who are repeating the very allegations and are relying upon the allegations in their incredible efforts to impugn the 2020 election results…it is they who are speaking about the information in that document and now the Government has signalled an intention to request that document so that it can be investigated so we can know the truth, and the people are objecting, the very people who are peddling the information in that document are now objecting to the document being released so that we can investigate.”
Yours truly,
H Singh
