EVIDENCE of ‘wild accusations’ made by the political Opposition must be produced, according to General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee.

“The evidence must be produced…present the evidence that the PPP is going around buying identification cards to do what. We don’t have to do things like that. We have never done it in the past,” he said at a news conference at Freedom House on Monday, in response to comments made by Brigadier David Granger.
“I hear some business people are buying ID cards and taking the ID cards from their employees,” Granger said to Barticians in the latter part of April at a rally.
Rohee also waded into the leader of the alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) for peddling the assertion that the PPP rigged elections from 1992 to 2011, an assertion that belies an indictment on the international election observers who deemed those polls free and fair.

The retired Brigadier reportedly said, “My brothers and sisters, the PPP thinks it is very clever. It doesn’t steal big; it steals small. There are 2,400 Polling Stations, and the PPP are going to steal votes; the PPP stole votes in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2011. Every time the PPP competed in an election, you had surplus votes. Make sure there are no surplus votes in 2015. And I want all of you to be the elections watchdogs on elections day.”
Rohee’s rejoinder to this was to question Granger’s rationale. “I don’t understand what is wrong with this gentleman, Mr. Granger; the bee in his bonnet is buzzing so much, that I can’t find the words,” he said.
Rohee stressed that the “mischief” of APNU+AFC will be exposed.
DOSSIER OF CONCERNS
Turning his attention to other ‘troubling’ sentiments expressed by the leadership of the political Opposition, he disclosed that work on the PPP’s dossier of concerns continues.
“We will include all the facts and details….this is not a concoction or something done for political mileage…this party has a track record in every single election, from stating our position up front…of all the political parties the PPP is the most experienced,” the PPP General Secretary stated.
The most recent concern he said is the call by APNU+AFC to take photos of how they voted.
“We were made to understand, and we are trying to get the evidence to this effect, that the APNU paying $10,000 per person who goes to the polling station, takes out photograph of how they voted and when they leave the polling station, they show that photo and they are given the $10,000…this is what we understand, in addition to that we have this GSM issue where they are asking their polling agents to take a photo of the result of the poll and send it to a central location and it will be disseminated across the country,” Rohee said.
The dangers in this call, according to him, are clear. “(This will mean) shear confusion and I don’t think it would end so easily, because there is bound to be trouble in the streets of Georgetown… if we don’t want confusion in this country, we better control ourselves,” he said.
The General Secretary stressed that the upcoming General and Regional Elections are a serious matter.
News of a dossier of documented concerns in the works was first disclosed in mid-April and the PPP General Secretary, at an earlier news conference, stated that the document will be handed to the election observer missions that are fielded to Guyana, if requested.
“We have documented these incidents so that when the observers are fully ensconced in their responsibilities, we should be in a position to present to them dossiers reflecting our concerns…this is normal practice of the PPP, we document our concerns,” he said.
The PPP General Secretary added that this approach reflects the responsible approach taken by the ruling party.
Asked about what is being done in the interim, Rohee said, “From time to time we will be assessing the situation as it evolves with a view to determining our response. In the meantime, because we believe in operating within the confines of the law, we will keep the Commissioner of Police and other stakeholders informed.”
By Vanessa Narine