The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) welcomes the investigation of thousands of identified names which were registered as voted in the March 2, 2020 elections, that turned out to be the names of persons who have migrated from Guyana and were not present in the country on election-day. The investigation was requested by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and is being conducted by the Immigration Division of the Guyana Police Force.
The ruling APNU+AFC coalition announced last week that the ballot recount has unearthed a massive opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) voter fraud scheme. It said PPP operatives allegedly cast thousands of fraudulent ballots for dead and/or people who have migrated. The coalition has provided death certificates and immigration records to GECOM to substantiate its fraud allegations.
The PPP has denied it committed elections fraud but it has railed against GECOM’s inquiry into the alleged fraud. The party falsely contends that the Commission has no power to investigate election fraud and has resorted to threatening Police officials and employees of the Deaths Registry; warning that they will be punished for releasing documents to GECOM. What does the PPP have to hide?
Former PPP Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, accused the APNU+AFC coalition of “accessing hundreds, if not thousands of death records for citizens across the country,” and claimed that this act, is unlawful as well as an abuse of State power. Both Nandlall and PPP leader Bharrat Jagdeo have been threatening to go after those who disclose this information to GECOM.
Nandlall, is currently being prosecuted for stealing and fraudulently converting law books from the Attorney General’s Chambers into his own property. Therefore, he of all people should know how fraud investigations work. Death certificates to prove that someone has died cannot be procured from the death, they are procured from the General Registrar’s Office.
The Laws of Guyana Chapter 44:01, Section 49 (2) states that “Everyone shall be entitled, on payment of the fees prescribed by the Minister by order, to search the indices between the hours of ten o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the afternoon of every day, except public holidays and Saturdays, and to have extracted therefrom a sealed certificate of birth in Form 4 or a sealed certificate of death in Form 5, as the case may be.” It is therefore dishonest to state otherwise.
CGID is aware that under the previous PPP government dozens of people who exposed wrongdoings by the PPP officials ended up dead. We urge public servants at the Deaths Registry and Immigration Division to carry out their function without fear of PPP intimidation or hooliganism. CGID warns the PPP to refrain from threatening and intimidating government employees. The PPP’s reckless threats are designed to incite violence, as was the case on March 5, 2020, and engender societal instability. We call on the Guyana Police Force to take action against anyone who indulges in this criminal act.
In advocating for the recount PPP Attorneys argued to the Courts that under Article 161 (1) of the Guyana Constitution and Section 22 of the Election Laws Amendment Act, GECOM has powers to take any action its deems necessary to ensure impartiality, fairness and compliance with the law in an election. The party has also accused Region 4 Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo of fraud. This was the basis of the PPP’s argument for a recount.
It is therefore passing strange that now that GECOM is inquiring into alleged election fraud, the PPP is challenging the people’s right to access death certificates and immigration records. The false contention that GECOM has no jurisdiction to investigate election fraud, which has now become the PPP’s “cause clebre,” invokes strong suspicions of guilt. CGID calls on GECOM to pursue any and all evidence of fraud and ensure that no fraudulent ballot is counted.
Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)