DEAR EDITOR,
IT is evident that following the unique impeachment of the President of the United States of America last year, the international world and Americans especially, now find themselves unable to decipher truth from reality. With new uncertainty about many of the terms these hegemonies personally coined and reportedly represented, they have now been taking out their frustration of inadequacies and falsehood upon smaller nations, very reminiscent of the accusatory spews of an abusive husband towards his wife. Battered now and visibly bruised, I, the Guyanese, am forced to provide again and over, the truths and facts in the most easily understandable language my abuser can understand.

Throughout the years of independent Guyana, the electoral process has always been marred by tensions. Tensions caused by racial inequality and discrimination. Tensions caused by classism and capitalism. Tensions caused by drug influencers. Free and fair elections can have been said to be… relative. Every party involved would tell the tale of history differently, but all agreeing that free and fair elections are always hoped for, but never achieved, since all are contested by the “losers.” However, guided by our democratic constitution, the Guyana Elections Commission commenced its mission of ensuring an unbiased determiner of the results of general and regional elections in Guyana from May 2000.

The third-party executor of the elections was given sole power over the affairs of the electoral process and when one found themselves in doubt of their decision, all must be argued, verified, validated, frowned upon, queried, following the declaration and swearing-in of the president; in layman’s terms, ‘Everybody can try with de problems after GECOM done de wok.’ Until now, this law has been respected and followed meticulously, with those drawing the shorter end of the stick, unsatisfied but compliant.

Considering the acquiescence or lack thereof on the part of the PPP/C was foreseen and expected. The true flabbergast was driven by the part of the international community and their seeming bias towards the party that for many years oppressed all Guyanese, ran the country using fear tactics, and pocketed the bribes of drug lords and foreign aid agencies. I implore you, let us remember the physical, judicial, economic, and social filth that the former governing era, the high commission party strove to build in my homeland. Further, if for the sake of amnesia, one forgot that the PPP/C has promoted racial discrimination and segregation from its foundation, we can only turn the pages back a couple weeks following these 2020 elections to see the chaos and hate that party spearheaded. Bharrat Jagdeo, leader of the PPP/C, on March 21 even enlisted supporters in Berbice to, “Chase them out!” It is in this context and guided by Jagdeo’s rhetoric of hate that PPP/C supporters violently attacked a school and David G school bus filled with negro children on March 7.

These children were horrifically injured and traumatised. I listened then for the Canadian High Commission to dispel these acts of social disparity. I listened for the British High Commission to denounce the attempt to return Guyana to the dark years of racial crises. I listened then for the United States Embassy to retaliate against the motivation of civil unrest in pursuance of their desire for economic control and domination! These humanitarian and moral thoughts, if ever they had them, vanished and the focus seems to be cooperation with their vested self-interest with the more unscrupulous and pliant PPP/C party geared to plunder the proceeds that will accrue from our oil economy.

Further, borrowing tactics from the last US election, the PPP/C extended the enlistment of the US PR & Lobby Company, Mercury Public Policy who, retaining its fondness to include the Russians, ran point-on interference in the 2020 elections. This foreign group manufactured fear schemes and bolstered racial segregation as distractions for further unscrupulous malpractices. Seen days before the election unloading dozens of MacBook computers into one of the party’s unofficial offices and flying Russian men into the country for the real dirty work, the PPP/C has revealed their expertise and years of experience in rigging elections. What they did not factor into their checklist, was the leadership demonstrated by President Granger and his Cabinet to fight for Guyanese and the future of our country.

Had Greg Quinn, Lilian Chatterjee and Sarah-Ann Lynch consulted their predecessors for debriefings prior to assuming their positions, maybe they would have been educated about the tyranny from which Guyanese had only just escaped! Now, more than a month following our elections, we are forced to make history, trending with the US again, because of the bullying of the PPP/C party and their powerful friends. As it stands, the commission responsible for the election has been stripped of its power, redirected, and forced to redo its work to satiate the likes of an egotistical maniac. Yes! Our country is being held hostage, but for the sake of democracy, we must allow the wolves to disrobe their sheep’s clothing.

Pray with me now comrades, that the declaration following the recount of all ballot boxes, revealing a truth we already know, does not lend itself to more evils unveiling their faces. The fact is that democracy preached is applicable first to the preacher.
Regards
SHARON THOMAS