…Media operatives rough-up Jagdeo after hurling insults at reporter

LOCAL media operatives, on Wednesday, stood their ground against Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, and had even threatened to put him out their tent after he hurled insults at a reporter from this newspaper.

Jagdeo had earlier made a number of unsubstantiated claims against Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, accusing him of being involved in electoral fraud.

While speaking to general matters of the recount process, he refused to speak to the revelation of a case whereby there were with more ballots in a ballot box than electors marked as voted on the Official List of Electors (OLE). Instead, he turned his attention to Commissioner Alexander, who had made the said report to the media. “Vincent Alexander is part of the plot to rig the elections. Vincent Alexander was one of the architects of the plot to rig the elections and it’s being unfolded now. Why don’t you ask Vincent Alexander about the Mingo declaration,” Jagdeo said.

“He said, ‘oh we shouldn’t compare it with Mingo’s declaration’ yet, they made an overall declaration on the election on the basis of Mingo’s fraudulent declarations for Region Four and it’s still on GECOM’s website.

After making these claims, the Guyana Chronicle corrected the opposition leader, noting that Mingo’s second declarations were not deemed as fraudulent by the court. In fact, records show that while the High Court ruled on Mingo’s first declaration made on March 5, the court did not adjudicate on the second declaration.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), through one of its supporters, had filed contempt proceedings but this case was shelved after President David Granger and Jagdeo, upon the intervention of the CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister Mia Mottley, agreed to the national recount.

Presented with these, the opposition leader entered into a verbal altercation with the Guyana Chronicle reporter, who posed the question, and refused to take additional questions from the newspaper. However, reporters at the location stood their ground making it clear that the opposition leader must either respond to the questions posed from any media entity or refrain from speaking to the media all together.

LEAVE THE TENT
“If you don’t want to speak with us, then you should leave,” the media operatives stated, citing disrespect from the opposition leader. Jagdeo eventually conceded, stating: “Alright. Go ahead and ask me.” Hours later, Opposition-nominated Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, excused himself from also accusing Alexander of electoral fraud. He first stated that he was not aware of the opposition leader’s statements and therefore could not comment.

Pressed further on whether any avenues exist for any commissioner to meddle in the elections, Gunraj said: “You see, the ambit of the elections and the likelihood of fraud is a very wide one…but the reality is that without specifics, I would prefer not to comment on it. But, like I said, I will endeavour with the totality or the majority of the information in my hands to do that — make an informed comment to you.” He agreed that his response may have very well been “a lawyer’s response” to the question.

DISTORTIONS
In an invited comment to the newspaper on Wednesday, Commissioner Alexander said that the legal events in relation to Guyana’s 2020 elections are known and his position on the matter is guided by the same. He said that he is unaware of how he could be linked to fraudulent behaviour or even Mingo’s declaration when he was not directly involved in the counting of the Region Four ballots.

“Mingo was given instruction by the court. Mingo went back and, as far as I’m concerned, he changed the process. The court has not said anything subsequent in relation to what Mingo did [in his second declaration]. In the absence of the court saying something, I have no basis to come to the conclusion that Mingo is involved in fraud,” he stated, adding: “And, I don’t know how I could be involved in a fraud when I have never had anything to do with Region Four and its counting directly.

I have not even had the privilege at the level of the commission to have the declarations brought to my pronouncement at the level of the commission. I may have advocated for them to be brought but they were never brought. So, I’ve never, in the commission, made any pronouncement on the content of the declaration though I will argue that procedurally they should be brought.”

Furthermore, Commissioner Alexander said that this is not the first time that the PPP/C has distorted his remarks or taken jabs against his character and he sees such actions as desperate and political. “I don’t take it lightly [the claims] but I understand the nature of the beast called politics and that politicians will hold on to the last straw that they can hold on to which is quite evident now,” he said.

“It is not just Jagdeo saying that, if you check all of the PPP Facebook pages, they say everything they can think about me. My physical being, my spiritual being, anything they can think about me, they say. It appears that they see me as something that has to be destroyed.”