‘POLITICAL SABOTAGE’
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

…PM, Dr Hinds say Jagdeo in feeble attempt to sabotage electoral process
…say Guyanese will again ignore opposition’s negative tactics

PRIME Minister of Guyana, Moses Nagamootoo, said the call by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, for a boycott of House-to-House Registration of citizens to create a new data base for a voters’ list, is a feeble attempt at sabotaging Guyana’s electoral process.
“No sensible politician would stand in the way of putting together a clean voters’ list that would include our voting age youths and all other eligible citizens who are domiciled in the country,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo told Guyana Chronicle on Monday.

Political Scientist Dr. David Hinds

But calling for a boycott is nothing new for the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister said, noting that history would show that the Opposition Leader, and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), on numerous occasions, boycotted important sittings of the National Assembly and national events. “After the certified defeat of the PPP at the 2015 polls, he boycotted the National Assembly. His party boycotted national events. It had embarked on a campaign of non-cooperation and civil disobedience, which has failed to impress the Guyanese people,” the Prime Minister said.

Guyanese, the Prime Minister posited, will once again resist this call by the Opposition Leader. “Guyanese will again ignore the negative tactics of the Leader of the Opposition and they will ensure that they register during the House-to-House campaign,” the Prime Minister said while adding that the “boycott call is a cover for withdrawal from the electoral process, and for a ‘No-Vote’ in the upcoming elections.”

He said that adhering to the calls of Jagdeo can disenfranchise persons who are eligible. “This would deny a section of our people from enjoying their democratic right to choose their Government. History will not absolve the Leader of the Opposition for this act of over suppression,” the Prime Minister explained.

Widespread support for H2H
However, he said despite the attempts of the Opposition Leader, there is widespread support for and response to the House-to-House exercise, noting that Guyanese people are determined to have credible elections based on a clean and authentic voters’ list.
Political Scientist, Dr. David Hinds, in a separate interview with Guyana Chronicle on Monday, also dubbed the call by Jagdeo and the PPP as “political sabotage” which could have serious consequences going forward.

“I think the PPP is setting the stage for a political collision. It is signalling to its supporters that it is not prepared to accept the results of an election with a new list unless it wins that election. This is a dangerous course of action in our politically volatile environment in which ethnic insecurity and fear abound,” Dr. Hinds explained to this newspaper.

He said while the Opposition has the right to protest, such protest borders on or overflow into ethnopolitical incitement, and as such, there is cause for concern. He opined that in some regards, the Opposition is putting the safety of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) workers, many of whom are women, at risk.

“If persons opt not to register, then they are willingly giving up the right to vote. It can only mean one thing in the end– they are prepared to nullify the election by any means necessary,” the political scientist reasoned.

The Opposition, in demanding that election be held within three months from June 18, has said that GECOM should utilize the expired voters’ list to conduct the election, but Dr. Hinds is advising against this.

Electoral fraud
“The use of an expired voters’ list or one that is tainted is tantamount to electoral fraud. One of the pillars of electoral democracy is a credible voters’ list that is not padded and does not disenfranchise citizens. A party that insists on elections with an expired list that is also tainted has an agenda other than ensuring electoral transparency and credibility,” Dr. Hinds explained.

For him, it would be better to lose democratic elections than win crooked ones. Noting that the PPP/C has always held itself up as the great defender of free and fair elections, Dr. Hinds questioned why it is now prepared to go against its own claim to political morality.
According to him, the PPP/C is now showing the world that it has one agenda only–to win by any means necessary, including by naked fraud. “It is prepared to twist the rulings of the court and the constitution itself to facilitate its hunger for power,” Dr. Hinds contended.
Dr. Hinds said he too fully supports the conduct of House-to-House Registration at this time, noting that it is intended to produce a clean list. “I was concerned that the exercise would have extended the timeline for elections which would have been a violation of the spirit of the CCJ ruling. But once GECOM committed to getting it done in 90 days, that problem was solved. We can now have elections by year-end which would be in keeping with the spirit of the CCJ rulings–the marrying of principle with practicality,” he told this newspaper.

House-to-House Registration commenced across the country last Saturday, and according to reports out of GECOM, persons are responding positively to the process. Thousands of young people who have never registered are reportedly eager to get registered.

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