The Week-in-Review - March 9 to March 14

Health

Guyana records first coronavirus case - President David Granger on Wednesday evening announced that Guyana has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and the woman, who travelled from New York and had underlying health conditions, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Wednesday. COVID-19 has been labeled as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the arrival of the virus could pose a serious threat to the local health system. “It is my sad duty to announce Guyana confirmed its first imported case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Georgetown on Wednesday 11th March 2020,” the president said in an address to the nation. The person has been identified as a 52-year-old woman, who travelled from the United States before the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the state of New York. According to the statement by the president, the woman arrived in the country on March 5th. She admitted herself to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation on Tuesday afternoon at around 5pm and while she was there, she presented uncontrollable diabetic and hypertension conditions which saw her having to be resuscitated.

Hospital workers, airline crew among dozens quarantined after contact with coronavirus patient - Relatives of the 52-year-old woman who died from the Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday along with staff members of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) who were in contact with her are among dozens who have been quarantined. Ministry of Public Health Public Relations Officer Terrence Esseboom told Stabroek News that more than a dozen persons are in quarantine. Persons who have been in contact with the family were also quarantined. However, tests for COVID-19 will not be conducted unless they develop symptoms linked to the disease. Thirteen employees of Caribbean Airlines who were on planes with the woman have also been placed in selfquarantine, while a number of staff members of Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital, who also came in contact with the deceased patient and had referred her to the GPHC, have also been quarantined.

Elections

Region Four vote count completed after suspect process - The Returning Officer (RO) for Region Four Clairmont Mingo has declared results for his voting district after a process roundly rejected by other contesting parties and observers except the incumbent APNU+AFC coalition, which stands to be declared the winner of the March 2 polls should they be certified. Mingo made his declaration just after 11 on Friday night following a day which saw international observers withdraw from the process and the RO appearing before Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire in a contempt hearing. The judge had on Wednesday ruled that the previous purported declaration of elections results for Region Four made by Mingo was unlawful as it did not conform with requirements in Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act. Declaring the declaration null, void and of no effect, the Chief Justice also made it clear that there therefore could be no declaration of any final results of the elections, until the declaration of the vote count for electoral district four is properly done. The Chief Election Officer, she said, can make no final declaration until and unless this vote is completed in a transparent manner before the persons duly authorized to be present. Despite the ruling and various other interruptions and accusations Mingo on Friday night declared that the APNU+AFC had won the Region with 136,057 votes, compared to 77,231 for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), a margin of 58,826. This margin is large enough to close the nearly 52,000 vote gap the PPP/C had recorded after the completed count of the other nine regions. Such a margin would mean that the APNU+AFC had won the March 2 General and Regional Elections if the results are considered credible. However, according to various persons present at the count, the numbers announced from the Statements of Polls (SOPs) presented were clearly altered. “It is a travesty…when you look, APNU numbers are clearly inflated…in some cases, twos have become threes and zeros have become eights. What comes out of this cannot be good for Guyana. At some point we have to consider what is in the best interest of the country,” Presidential Candidate of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) Lenox Shuman told reporters after the completion of the process.

AFC’s Gaskin not ‘sufficiently convinced’ about Region Four RO’s figures - Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Dominic Gaskin said on Friday that he was not “sufficiently convinced” that the polling results purportedly declared by the Returning Officer (RO) for Region Four last accurately reflected the statements of poll (SOPs) from the 879 polling stations.

In a Facebook post, Gaskin, who is the son-in-law of president Granger and the former Minister of Business, said had a difficulty accepting that all the persons and organisations who have so far deemed the process to lack credibility have gotten it wrong. “I believe I am a rational person capable of independent thinking, despite my political affiliation. Given all that has taken place over the last twelve days I am not sufficiently convinced that the results of the Region 4 elections as declared by the GECOM RO last Thursday (March 5th) accurately reflect the results recorded on the various statements of poll collected from the 879 polling stations,” he wrote.

“I have a difficulty accepting that all the persons and organizations who have so far deemed the process to lack credibility have somehow gotten it wrong,” he added, before adding that he could not understand why the Returning Officer would not be “bending over backwards” to convince the various observers that his tabulation process was sound and all his results credible. “If our election results are as widely rejected as they appear likely to be, then there can be no winners. We all lose. This is not what I campaigned for,” he wrote. As a result, Gaskin said the Guyana Elections Commission needs to publish their SOPs for all to see. “If not it can never hold credible elections in Guyana again,” he warned.

Western envoys signal isolation if flawed results used for swearing in - The envoys of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union Delegation and Canada on Friday warned that the swearing in of any president on the basis of flawed results could lead to Guyana’s isolation. They made the declaration in a statement issued after a walk out of the tabulation process for the votes recorded in Region Four at the March 2 general elections, while noting that it was clear that a transparent process was not in place and intimidatory tactics were being applied.

OAS withdraws elections mission over flawed process for Region Four vote count - The Organization of American States (OAS) Election Observation Mission on Friday withdrew from the country, saying that the tabulation process for Region Four was not transparent and it has warned that the legitimacy of any government installed in these circumstances will be open to question. In a statement, the OAS mission said that the process being conducted by the Returning Officer for Region Four to ascertain the results of the general and regional elections held on March 2 did not meet the required standard of fairness and transparency. “…the process employed by the Returning Officer for Region 4 is not transparent and, based on the numbers that have emanated since the process was first disrupted, is unlikely to produce a result that is credible and is able to command public confidence,” the OAS mission said. “The legitimacy of any government that is installed in these circumstances will be open to question. This would be a terrible blow to the country’s democracy,” it said, adding that it had no option but to withdraw from Guyana.

UK Foreign Secretary urges Granger to preserve principle of free and fair elections - The United Kingdom today expressed deep concern about the events following the elections here on 2 March 2020. Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said: “We call upon the President to preserve the principle of free, fair and credible elections. Allegations of electoral fraud and premature declarations of victory prior to the completion of a credible process pose a grave threat to the democratic principles of Guyana. “We call upon President Granger to ensure that proper procedures are followed before embarking upon a transition of government. “We stand ready to offer assistance to ensure a credible election result is produced”.

Oil & Gas

Energy dep’t still mum on selling price for first oil cargo - The Department of Energy (DE) has still not disclosed how much Guyana was paid per barrel (BBL) from its first crude oil cargo in February, while payment from royalty or sales has not been collected as yet. The DE is responsible for overseeing the sale of the country’s share of oil produced and it has sold the first three cargo lifts to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited and is now looking for a marketer for the other lifts. Apart from the price that Guyana’s initial lift was sold for or when the payments will be expected, it is also unclear what impact falling oil prices have had on the arrangement. The Brent crude oil price for December, when production started in Guyana, was at a high of US$67.31 per barrel and in February the average was US$56 per barrel. But the figure dropped earlier this month and this week the price slumped dramatically into mid-US$30s after a row between OPEC and Russia. Guyana’s first shipment of crude oil was sold following face-to-face encounters between energy officials and brokers in December. It is unclear if the crude was sold somewhere near the December US$67 per barrel figure or if it is still in cargo.

In the courts

High court quashes presidential respite which aimed to shield Finance Minister from criminal contempt - In a major ruling, the High Court has quashed the presidential respite granted to Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who was held in criminal contempt for the nonpayment of over US$2.2 million owed to Trinidad company Dipcon, saying, among other things, that the decision was in excess of jurisdiction and no reasonable argument had been advanced in support of the said decision. In July last year, Dipcon had filed suit seeking an order of certiorari quashing President David Granger’s decision to grant Jordan a respite from 21 days imprisonment over the non-payment of money owed to it by government for road construction works. Attorney General Basil Williams and President David Granger were listed as the respondents. Dipcon was awarded judgment to the tune of US$2,228,400 since 2015. Despite a number of orders directing government to honour its financial obligation, including one in late June 2019 for Jordan to pay over the owed amount no later than July 8th 2019 or face 21 days in jail, Dipcon has not received any money. On Wednesday evening, in a terse statement, the Ministry of Finance said it paid Dipcon in December, 2019. It added that garnishee orders submitted by attorneys Anil Nandlall, Sasenarine Gunraj and the GRA were deducted after which the final sum was paid. It provided no details on the amounts involved.

Matthews Ridge man gets life imprisonment for killing cop during arrest bid - Dennis Marks, who was on trial for the 2016 murder of Police Sergeant Leonard La Rose, will spend the remainder of his life behind bars after a jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty after hours of deliberation last Tuesday. The trial of Marks for the 2016 murder of La Rose commenced during the latter part of February before Justice Sandil Kissoon and the 12-member jury at the High Court in Georgetown. Marks was represented by attorney Rachael Bakker. The state, meanwhile, was represented by prosecutors Tuanna Hardy, Tiffini Lyken and Nafeeza Baig. After hours of deliberation, the jury found Marks not guilty of the capital offence of murder but found him guilty of a lesser count of manslaughter.

Businessman Ghalee Khan back in US on drug charges - Fugitive Guyanese businessman Ghalee Khan was last Tuesday appeared before a judge in the United States and was remanded to prison on drug charges dating

Tutn to page 25