Dear Editor

PRESIDENT David Granger was greeted as a real Statesman when he entered the Arthur Chung Convention Centre recently. It could not have been a ‘surprise’ visit because members of the media, as well as some of the persons involved in the recount process were prepared to welcome him. However, the real joy and excitement of many of the people there when their eyes behold him gave the impression that it was unexpected.

However, after a tumultuous welcome, Mr. Granger immediately got down to business and according to him, he was happy to see the recount in progress; heard of the pace at which the recount is moving, and have met with the CARICOM team, who made their own remarks, which he did not disclose.

Many of the media personnel would have been happy to pin the President down to answering questions related to development of the recount process such as missing poll books, envelopes and document, procedures not adhered to, dead people voting, persons migrated voting.

However, in his brief presentation President Granger stated that throughout 2019 and up until March 2, 2020 the government has continued to respect the rule of law. He stated that the elections were well managed and orderly until March 5 – 6, 2020 when people were attacked and school children injured at Bath Settlement and other parts of West Coast Berbice.

“I have made it clear that my government will continue to abide by the Constitution. It will respect the rulings of the Court; it will await the declarations of the Elections Commission, and most recently, particularly after the elections, we will rely on the role of the Caribbean Community in the recount process,” President Granger said, putting forward the notion of the four ‘Cs’, which he described as: The Constitution, the Courts, the Commission and CARICOM.

President Granger pointed out that he was very confident” in CARICOM’s integrity and ability and iterated what the Barbados’ Ambassador to Washington said: “CARICOM is the most legitimate interlocutor on the Guyana situation,” saying that he was inspired by what was said and is looking forward for a fruitful outcome.

In responding some of the major concerns of anomalies President Granger said that while he cannot ‘intrude’, the concerns will be dealt with at the level of GECOM. He explained that while the government would like the process to be brought to a speedy conclusion, it must be brought to a correct conclusion as well so that the Guyanese people would be satisfied with the outcome.

He stated that there are changes that must be made in the Guyana electoral system, so that the people of this country would never again have to wait so long for the results of an election.

GECOM acts independently
S0 the President has said that he will not “intrude’; that the anomalies will be answered by GECOM. At the same time, media personnel and other interested persons are still longing to have the international observers, the Private sector and other major stakeholders deal with the named issues coming out of the recount.

Questions such as, ‘What is GECOM’s margin of error in these elections? How much is too much in relation to dead people voting? Should it be 10, 100 or 1000! What does all this say for the integrity of the process?’ are awaiting answers.

The President has spoken. As usual, with decency and integrity he has not failed to state his plan. The people well understand that at the moment GECOM is hard at work, but within this same process many would like GECOM to begin to address the issues mentioned above. It is not just numbers but a democratic process we can all trust and whose results we can endorse.
Regards
Mercy Samuel