Dear Editor
GUYANESE from all walks of life, at home at abroad, members and supporters of all political parties, even the apolitical welcomed the national recount agreement between His Excellency President David A. Granger and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo.

I rather suspect too that after CARICOM was invited to ìsuperviseî and to be signatory of the agreement with GECOM and the two aforementioned leaders, Guyanese and Caribbean persons were even more elated. The enthusiasm of Guyanese soon dissipated after the High Court ruled in the Ulita Moore injunction matter, that proceeding with the national recount would be unconstitutional and illegal since the agreement transferred the supervision of the recount from GECOM to CARICOM. GECOM is the only authority under Guyanaís Constitution that is allowed to manage Guyanaís electoral system which includes undertaking and overseeing vote tabulation. Further, the High Court ruled that the recount must be undertaken in keeping with Guyanaís Constitution, GECOMís statutory responsibilities outlined therein and the countryís electoral laws.

Soon after the High Court ruling, the CARICOM team departed Guyana. While speaking to the media, Prime Minister of Barbados ñ Mia Mottley – famously remarked that ìthere are forces in Guyana that do not want a recount.î On April 3, 2020, the GECOM commissioners along with its chairperson agreed to proceed with the national recount. On April 2, 2020, Mr. Gerry Gouevia of the Private Sector Commission released to the public a letter he wrote, purportedly on behalf of the commission (several PSC members have since publicly distanced themselves from the letter drafted and signed by Mr. Gouevia without first consulting members of the PSC.

In the days and weeks following the agreement by GECOM to proceed with the national recount, Guyanese began to observe that the PPP/C along with its proxy parties (ANUG, LJP, TNM etc.) began suggesting several conditionalities for the previously agreed national recount. Guyanese even read letters dispatched to the media by the OAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission and Carter Centre, all of which sought to cast aspersions on the national recount and dictate to GECOM how the recount should happen, who should be involved as observers and which GECOM officials should and should not be present during the recount.

To date, Guyanese have seen the PPP/C and its proxies attempt to derail the national recount by questioning the credibility of the process using the following tactics: (1) After agreeing to a national recount, the PPP/C then began backpedalling on its agreement. First, through the PSC, Gerry Gouevia said that a national recount is ìa waste of timeî and that GECOM should only recount Region Four, something that was done twice already, (2) the PPP now wants the observer groups ñ the same international observer groups who have been clearly compromised and whoís actions in no small manner, contributed to the chaos that ensued inside and around the GECOM Command Centre, not just the OAS should be invited to help oversee the national recount, not just CARICOM (the proverbial hmmm?), (3) at least three GECOM officials should not take part in the recount, (4) the recount should commence with Region Four first, instead of in numerical order or simultaneously and (5) the recount should be completed in 12 days (this is impossible, the recount stemming from the disputed and illegal 1997 elections took 70 days).
Regards

R. Chung-A-On