Nt, GECOM chair was found locked with Myers and a dozen persons l elections inquiry
ld the CoI that on the March 6, 2020, Police rine arrived at the locahough he told the police air had summoned him wasn’t feeling well, he ed to enter. re barricading so no one the third floor. He as pleading with the rs to let him through but eing difficult about it. aying it is prohibited at Kanhai recalled. lance arrived and evene was allowed to enter Kanhai said, while notons present also “broke” s and made their way to or of the building where s. re, I noticed that a door ocks missing and it was at was where it became ting….The locks were handles were all broken my medical empathy, I ave a go at that door…. I m Chair seated on the Miss Roxanne Myers sitandle and about 12 men ” Kanhai, who is a medby profession told the
g to Kanhai, the Chair flustered” and “pale”. s later arrested and while he secured bail, to not received any notice has to appear in court.
hai and Shuman told the r fear about the GECOM y was driven mainly by t should anything go her, the electoral process railed. thinking in my head if something is wrong with her or something should be wrong with her, how long this process would be derailed,” Kanhai told the CoI on Monday.
Meanwhile, although he was cautioned by Senior Counsel, Sophia Chote and retired Justice John about expounding on “suspicions”, Shuman continued by expanding on the possible implications of the elections Chair being harmed.
“…The implications of having harm come to the Chair without any kind of verification would mean that there could be no declaration of results, it would mean that the Government may sit in breach of certain articles of the constitution, it would mean that we would have to re-run the entire elections. That is what drove our actions to ensure that the Chairwoman was safe,” he told Chote.
As a matter of fact, he made it clear that the sole purpose of him going to the room was to ascertain the safety of retired Justice Singh. “I think as a political leader your Honour that it is the responsibility of every civic person, their civic duty, to ensure that no harm comes to any public employee” Shuman told Justice John.
While he was providing details, Shuman also sought permission from the Commission to expound on the reasons for such but Chote told him that it was “not necessary”.
Justice John also reminded Shuman that the CoI has Terms of Reference. “…What you want to tell us is not really necessary….We have certain Terms of Reference and the Commission….What we want to know is what happened that day,” Justice John told Shuman.
According to their Terms of Reference, the Commissioners are to inquire into and report upon the relevant circumstances and events leading up to, and the procedures following the Regional and General Elections held in Guyana on the 2nd day of March 2020. The investigation is not limited to, but includes the counting, ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and the public declaration of those results by the Returning Officer of Electoral District No. 4 and other election officers, as prescribed by the Representation of the People Act. The three Commissioners will also examine what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert and prevent the counting, ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and a declaration of the true results of Electoral District No. 4 as prescribed by the law, and by whom.
Revoke accreditations
Other aspects of Shuman’s testimony like the previous witness’ also focused on what took place before
Mingo attempted to declare the Region Four results for the elections with doctored figures showing APNU+AFC had won.
But before the declaration was made, Shuman pointed out to the CoI that the then acting Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Karen Cummings had threatened to revoke the accreditations of observers including those of the head of the Commonwealth observer group, former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur and Head of the OAS observer mission, former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Asked about the observers’ reaction to this by Chote, Shuman said Arthur “vociferously” protested. “He protested very vociferously stating that the accreditation was not
given by the Government but by the Elections Commission. They are operating under international treaties and international law and there was a whole lot of support for his position,” Shuman told Chote.
He said Cummings did not say “much else” while noting at the same she received a phone call on a phone Myers had in her possession. After taking the call, Shuman said Myers left.
Chote further questioned Shuman about his observations of the observers’ reaction to Cummings’ statement which he described as “disgust”.
“Absolute and utter disgust that you could invite foreign missions to come and observe a democratic process and not only to the observers, I think members of the
diplomatic corps to come and observe a democratic process and when they get to the point where they are doing what they had committed to do, you are threatening to remove their accreditation,” Shuman stated.
He said Cummings did not gave a reason for the threat.
While all this was going on, Shuman told the CoI that he stood at the door of the room. He said he remained in the building for the entire day and after the “episode” with the observers and Cummings he returned to the tabulation room. “There was a complete cessation of activities in relation to GECOM’s process,” he said.
Public hearings into the CoI are set to continue this morning at 9am.