Dear Editor,
In a rare Facebook post, Mrs Sandra Granger, First Lady, declared that “The People’s victory must not be stolen. Every region, every box, every ballot be counted” with the APNU/AFC symbol.
During the five weeks since the March 2 General and Regional Elections, Mrs Granger has not uttered one word in defence of the Guyanese people’s right to have their votes counted in a free, fair, transparent and credible manner.
She has been conspicuously silent: –
-On the March 5 and March 13 tabulation and verification exercises of Region Four which all the international and local observers and opposition parties declared were not transparent and not credible;
-When the Chief Justice’s (ag) orders of March 11 and 12 were openly trampled on by RO Mingo and CEO Lowenfield;
-When an APNU candidate legally represented by another APNU candidate approached the court and effectively catapulted the agreement signed by her husband as President and leader of the APNU to bring a high-level Caricom team to recount the votes of Region Four and all the regions;
-With regard to the March 17 statement by the Chairperson of the Caribbean Community, PM Mia Mottley, that “It is clear that there are forces that do not want to see the votes recounted for whatever reason. Any Government which is sworn in without a credible and fully transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy”;
-On the recent Chief Justice (ag) and Court of Appeal rulings that upheld the position that the recount should proceed;
-In the face of the threats of sanctions to Guyana from the Commonwealth, the Organisation of American States, the European Union, top officials of the US, UK and other foreign Governments;
Mrs Granger has known from the night of March 4 latest — as does her husband the President and all of the PNC/APNU/AFC leadership — that the APNU/AFC had lost the elections. Which political party and their spokespersons have been delaying the completion of the last and largest region from being counted in compliance with the law and the court orders? Who has been responsible for attempting to steal the people’s votes? Who has placed the country in jeopardy of being globally sanctioned? Only one -the APNU/AFC coalition in collusion with GECOM – has been responsible for attempting to steal the people’s votes and thereby placing Guyana in a terrible and precarious state.
Suddenly Mrs Granger seems to have received an epiphany on April 12, Easter Sunday no less, that has awoken her from her somnambulistic state.
Is it because the Lowenfield formula of 156 days to recount all 10 regions will permit her yet another seven months to enjoy the luxuries of office as First Lady alongside her husband?
If this is the plan behind her Facebook post, then she too will be responsible for our nation facing both a political and a humanitarian crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sincerely,
Gail Teixeira
