Dear Editor
I MAKE reference to your page three story, captioned “Mischief afoot” of October 06, 2018, which reports the statements by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman, Retired Justice James Patterson.

First of all, I must commend the chairman, who has disproven all those who had asked very disparaging questions about his age, and concomitant mental and physical capacities to discharge his constitutional duties. After almost a year at the helm of the nation’s elections administrative office, he has disproven all of his critics, both political opposition and otherwise, all wrong. Not only did he, without any fanfare, quietly settle down to his duties; but has also been able to chart the road map for November 12 Local Government Elections (LGEs).

Reading his statements about the ‘Mischief afoot”, it is clear that here is a Guyanese, patriotic in every sense, who intends to uphold the sacred responsibilities of his office, ensuring that LGEs are held. He must be commended for his forthrightness in letting the nation be aware of the forces that are bent on halting the democratic will of the people, by imputing allegations of race that are spurious, as they are untrue.
It is very instructive to note one of the chairman’s observations, when he alluded to the fact that “Guyana’s pending oil wealth from its developing petroleum sector has given way to greed and greed to bad judgement….”

Any Guyanese, who has been closely following the deviousness of the political opposition and their cliques, will comprehend the meaning of this statement. Of course, there are some people in this country who are salivating at the prospects of what will be the rich financial bonanza from oil; and are having sleepless nights as they realise that they are not going to be holding the reins of government when that auspicious moment in the country’s economic development history arrives. For these dangerous opportunists, whose pillaging of the national economy are well documented, any means of resort to achieving their return to power, for further feasting and self-enrichment at the expense of national development and the poor,will be used. For these elements, it is power at all costs, even if it means interfering with such a critical constitutional body that is tasked with ensuring the will of the people.

Regards,
Dillon Goring