OAS ought to be more sensitive with how it is treating with Guyana’s elections

Dear Editor,

As I read the news yesterday, I was taken aback at what I would describe as the forthrightness in the press, that is, of the Organisation of American States (OAS) with reference to the report by the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr. Bruce Golding, as the Head of the OAS Observer Mission, on our March 2, 2020 Elections. While I, like many Guyanese, appreciate the intervention of the OAS, as well as the international community, in my view the OAS as an international organization, ought to be more sensitive and diplomatic with how it is treating with this matter relative to Guyana’s elections.

Having read the OAS statement, I have several questions. What is the source of Mr. Golding’s information that he used in his comparison with that of the Region #4 Returning Officer’s? If the OAS must defend this information, the source of the information ought to be unbiased. The examples Mr. Golding provided were very specific I thought, for his level of reporting. Did he collect this information on Elections Day? Why is it that Mr. Golding and the OAS are focusing so much on Region #4, when the recount process is for all ten regions? What was the method that he used to collect this data? Did he collect it on the day of Elections? Or did he collect it subsequently and from where? Essentially, my question is what is the source of this information? I am just being scientific here.

Another question is, if this information is accurate and it is contrary to that of the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) information, why is it that the OAS seems to be intent on wanting to embarrass and discredit GECOM and not have a more diplomatic posture? Why is it that the OAS seems to be intent on embarrassing GECOM despite the election commission having already

the full glare of the Region Four office and in the presence of any number of reputable people in the form of observers and diplomats, among others, he could hardly gainsay the facts. Instead he followed the example of Guyana’s de facto President and limply insisted that Guyana remained governed by the rule of law. All that can be said is that if Mr Golding’s account has substance – and the incontrovertible evidence is there to prove that it does – then the last thing that can be asserted is that the country remains governed by the rule of law.

He also said that the executive does not interfere with Gecom, which is an independent constitutional body, and that Mr Granger had repeatedly stated that he would “accept the declaration of the results by the Elections Commission which will allow for a democratically elected government to be sworn into office.” It all sounded very Grangerlike and utterly meaningless, considering that the President has appeared totally unperturbed by events, and has at no point indicated he would not be sworn in on the basis of fraudulent results. Being prepared to abide by Gecom’s declaration is not the same thing as refusing to be sworn in following the declaration of a non-credible result, because employees of the commission are engaging in fraud.

But as a former Prime Minister of Jamaica, what Mr Golding had to say clearly stung the de facto President. According to the state newspaper it was only hours after the head of the OAS observer team had spoken that Mr Joseph Harmon, Mr Granger’s right-hand man who everybody thought had been transferred to the Covid-19 Task Force, discharged a retaliatory blast.

In a response unredeemed by even a smidgeon of wit, humour or subtlety Mr Harmon resorted to the time-honoured tactic of all those whose arguments are totally lacking in credibility: discredit the messenger and not the message. He alleged that it was no secret that Mr Golding was a close friend and ally of Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, and had been to the latter’s private house prior to serving as head of the OAS Observer mission. Mr Golding, he said, was compromised, and had now become “an unabashed co-conspirator of the PPP as they seek to defy the will of the Guyanese people.”

If the vulgarity of this is not enough to leave the average sane Guyanese breathless, Mr Harmon had more to say: “The APNU+AFC notes that Mr

taken a decision to conduct a recount and the recount process is currently being done? Mind you, I have issues with Mr. Mingo’s results; but the point is, I am not the OAS.

In the interest of democracy and upholding the rule of law, one would think that the OAS would want to promote stability in Guyana and not foster a destabilization process. One would think that the OAS would applaud the decision of GECOM to conduct the recount in the interest of transparency and towards having a more credible and certifiable declaration of the results from the Elections?

I have, what I would say is a fairly good understanding of the intricacies and underlying issues in Guyana, so the OAS need to change its posture. How is the OAS going to come back and help us to heal if they are so involved? to the point where they are perceived as biased.

We are all trying to grapple with this intense and extensive level of

Golding and People’s Progressive Party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo appeared in tandem before the media – Mr Golding virtually and Mr Jagdeo at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. It appears as if this was coordinated and prearranged to deliver statements which were strikingly similar in content and style.” This is so ludicrous one wonders how Mr Harmon had the brazenness to say it at all. It certainly does not sound like the best of PR wisdom to have two independent personalities saying the same thing at the same time in different places and be given equal exposure. Or is Mr Harmon suggesting that the OAS as an organisation now coordinates its activities with the PPP/C? That indeed would be headline news.

And then of course there is the evidence that the Covid-19 head considers particularly unchallengeable, namely, a photo of then Prime Minister Bruce Golding and then President Bharrat Jagdeo at an event in Spanish Town, Jamaica on August 1, 2009. It does not seem to bother him that presumably after much digging, the only thing that could be located was a photo from eleven years ago, and that on Emancipation Day at a celebration.

It is almost tiresome to iterate that the issue is not who Mr Golding’s friends are or who he chooses to visit – and one suspects even Mr Harmon doesn’t know that – but the status of the evidence cited not just by the OAS observer mission head but by all the other observer missions, all the local observer missions and all the party agents except for APNU+AFC. But then the coalition’s new “narrative”, to use Mr Harmon’s favourite word, is not that, but what they claim are the irregularities which have been found since the recount started, and which amount to “fraud on the Guyanese people”.

But then the absurdity of that claim is another story.

intervention into the affairs of the country. We are not accustomed to it and we are trying to adapt and adjust appropriately. We really do want the involvement of the OAS and the international community but what we don’t want is for your approach to broaden the divide and nurture the underlying racial, ethnic, class, political issues in our society and your current approach is doing so to a large extent. And this is not about supporting the APNU+AFC government and not supporting the PPP/C, this is about after this electoral process, we have to live with each other. The truth is, personally, one side of me wants the PPP/C to win and another side wants the APNU+AFC to win, for different reasons.

While the OAS and the international community are examining this as merely a case of promoting democracy, rule of law and economic interest; it is more than that for many Guyanese.

Let me explain the sensitivities behind what is happening in Guyana and the need to treat this elections matter with much sensitivity. Many of the supporters of the APNU+AFC are of the view that the No Confidence Motion that was passed in December 2018, was a ‘coup’ against their government. They are convinced that elements in the political sphere had something to do with it. Now many of them are of the view that the international community is now colluding with some of the same elements in the political sphere, to get their government out. The big challenge is that they also have major issues from previous governance practices of some of those elements.

The PPP/C and many of their supporters on the other hand are convinced that their party won the elections and want to see their government sworn in. While at the same time, the APNU+AFC is also claiming that they won the elections; but we all know that there cannot be two winners.

So, here is where I think that GECOM’s decision to conduct the recount, is commendable. The recount is possibly the only way that both parties’ supporters will accept the results from the elections.

The OAS and the international community have to give Guyanese more credit. We will not support a government that does not reflect the will of the people. We will NOT support a dictator! We want a resolution to this current impasse be we do not want destabilisation in the process. We think that we are mature enough, smart enough, love each other enough, love our country enough, so my request is that you step back a bit, and support us as friends of the APNU+AFC and the PPP/C and the independent supporters.

One of my heroes in this process, is the Caricom Community. CARICOM, we appreciate that in this our difficult moment, that you are not the first to pass judgement; nations take a long, long time to develop the kind of synergies needed for growth and development and sustainability and we are on that road.

Yours faithfully, Audreyanna Thomas Editor-in-Chief’s note: Mr Golding was reporting to the OAS which had mandated him to lead the electoral observation mission to Guyana. His obligation to the OAS is to deliver the truth. By virtue of the OAS’s observation role, Mr Golding would have had access to SoPs, Mr Mingo’s count and SoRs. Hence his ability to speak comprehensively on the fraud that was discovered.

Many supporters of APNU+AFC have harped upon where independent voices have gotten their SoPs from as if they are unwilling to have these exposed to the sunlight so that electoral fraud could either be proved or disproved. Their tactic is to argue that the SoPs have come from the PPP/C and can therefore not be trusted. This is all the more reason why GECOM should release its SoPs – the official results at each polling station – so all Guyanese can have the opportunity to do their own evaluation.

While not having its own copy of SoPs, Stabroek News has photographic images of SoPs that were posted up outside of polling stations and has published these for public scrutiny.

There is no doubt that Guyana’s elections are in the process of being rigged via the false numbers presented for District Four. This is not the time to play politics or seek some historic political settlement that has eluded the country since independence. This is the time to call out fraud and ensure that a final result is delivered as soon as possible. In this context, Mr Golding’s intervention at the OAS was most welcome.