WARNING of a calculated plot to disrupt the May 11 General and Regional Elections was sounded yesterday, which diabolical ploy, if allowed to go unchecked, will have dire consequence for Guyana.As such, Commissioner of Police, Seelall Persaud, has been called upon to charge A Partnership For National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition member James Bond, over statements he would have posted on social media during the course of the Disciplined Services Vote on Saturday last.
The call came from none other than Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who was among the many speakers yesterday at Bath Settlement in Berbice, where the ruling Peoples Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) staged yet another of its massive rallies as the 2015 General and Regional Election campaign heads down the proverbial homestretch.
It was not all smiles and jubilation as the rally pressed on, and Jagdeo took to the podium and warned of a deliberate plot already set in motion to subvert the elections next Monday, May 11, and to cause confusion.
In fact, Jagdeo has also called on the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to immediately launch an investigation into the recent negative and downright dangerous events surrounding the campaign that have been escalating of late, and to take necessary action. Jagdeo told the thousands of Berbicians gathered at the Bath Settlement venue not to be fooled by those calling the recent incidents “maverick or isolated”.
He rather contends that it is a concerted effort on the part of the Opposition to create confusion on polling Day.
He drew reference to the GECOM Chairman’s documented castigation of Bond’s statement.
Jagdeo said the GECOM Commissioner had noted that if Bond’s comments can be verified as accurate, then there will be consequence.
The Former President is however convinced that Bond’s statement is downright illegal. The practicing attorney had posted on a social networking website that the Joint Services had voted overwhelmingly in support of the coalition: 94 per cent, he suggested.
“I have heard right across Guyana,” Jagdeo said, “people describing attempts, what I view as organised attempts to create confusion in the polls on Election Day.”
He warned that these attempts were in no way “maverick” or “isolated” or “loose-cannon behaviour”. According to Jagdeo, “It is no way maverick behaviour; nor is it loose- cannon behaviour.” He said there is in fact “a pattern to all of this, and if we don’t put a stop to it now, then on Election Day, there shall be consequences for this country.”
Jagdeo also called on the people that are entrusted to ensure the elections are organised and executed in a fair and transparent manner, this being GECOM, to not sit and become complacent, and view the attempts as isolated.
The Former president used his address at Bath Settlement yesterday to directly appeal to GECOM to deal with what he calls illegal attempts to subvert the polls come next Monday.
“So, Mr. (Steve) Surujbally, Mr. (Keith) Lowenfield, the Chairman of GECOM and the Chief Executive Officer, you need to apply the laws of this country to such behaviour; do not excuse them, because it is the testing ground for creating confusion on Elections Day,” Jagdeo said, adding: “How could James bond know about the military vote” when the ballots are yet to be counted?
Asking the thousands of Berbicians whether they could recall that the leadership of the PPP/C had earlier warned about the subverting of the Military and Police by the APNU+AFC coalition, Jagdeo said, “It has already started.”
He posited, “If you are trying to paint the Disciplined Services as being partisan; as pro-PNC, then you are basically going back to something that this country suffered; that Granger championed, which was the paramountcy of the Party.”
Former president Jagdeo declared that for Bond to make such a statement without having the facts, “then it is illegal; they have to charge him now.”
A clearly impassioned Jagdeo told the equally receptive supporters, “They have to charge him, and send a signal to this country.”
Warning that this was not the only aspect of the plot, Jagdeo said that the Opposition “launched a couple days ago another project aimed at creating confusion on Election Day.”
The Former President identified this plan as ‘Project GPS’.
He explained that under Project GPS, the Opposition is calling on persons across Guyana to take photographs of the Statements of Poll to be posted outside of each Polling Station at the close of the day, so that they can be posted on Social Media websites to provide a basis for the unofficial results.
Jagdeo argues, however, that the real danger in Project GPS is that all that is required after that is for the photographs of the Statements of Poll to be edited prior to being made public.
He said the foregoing scenario allows for when the official results “come out, and they don’t match, they will use that as an excuse to say you are cheated and bring their hordes on the street.”
Jagdeo calls it a clear attempt to subvert the polls, and used the occasion to also call on the Guyana Police Force to charge the woman accused of urinating on a PPP/C Party flag before setting it on fire.
Jagdeo said that while some would want to laugh about the matter, it is an illegal act, and the police needs to charge her now.
“We need to take firm action,” he said. “That’s not just something to laugh about; its not just crudity and characteristic behaviour of the PNC, it is illegal to destroy elections paraphernalia of another Party. The police needs to charge her now.”
Jagdeo is of the firm view that the police needs to take affirmative action against all perpetrators. “The Commissioner of Police needs to be told that he has to take strong action today, or else this will escalate,” he said.
GECOM needs to take a stand now, according to Jagdeo, who also singled out the International observers to be called into action also.
He said, GECOM along with the international observers must ensure that the clear efforts by the Opposition to subvert the polls come May 11, do not succeed.