— President says Carter Center excluded due to health crisis, CARICOM’s competency
— urges int’l community to respect Guyana’s COVID-19 travel restrictions

THE Government of Guyana holds nothing against The Carter Center, and the decision not to approve its re-entry into the country was based solely on the global health crisis and the competency of the CARICOM Scrutinising Team, already present.

This was made clear by President David Granger to members of the media, on Sunday, following a visit to the recount centre located at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). On Friday, the government had denied a late re-entry of The Carter Center and the International Republic Institute (IRI) into the country to observe the ongoing national recount process, citing CARICOM as “the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation” and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The message was conveyed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karen Cummings to United States (U.S.) Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, who had made the request.
Speaking to the media, President Granger said that it is public knowledge that leading up to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, a range of international observer missions such as the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS), The Carter Center and others were welcomed to the country.

It was not until after the breakdown in the tabulation of the Region Four Statements of Poll (SOPs) and the expansion of the COVID-19 situation that these missions left the country.
Subsequently, the government implemented a range of emergency measures in response to the pandemic which included the closure of its international ports to entries not deemed as essential. “We welcomed all of those observer missions. We know that The Carter Center is friends with Guyana; we don’t have any problem with The Carter Center or with the EU or with the OAS or with any observer mission that we welcomed to Guyana. But, since March 2, the public health situation has changed drastically all around the world and all we ask is that new requests should be viewed in light of the changed public health situation. That is a matter for the government of Guyana to decide,” the President stated.

Guyana takes COVID-19 threat seriously

He informed the media that the government takes the threat of the coronavirus very seriously and expects that the measures put in place will be respected by the international community. Furthermore, the Head of State said that there is no doubt that the CARICOM expert team is competent to do the task set out based on an agreement between himself, the Leader of the Opposition and the Elections Commission.

He stated: “The CARICOM team is competent and I am very confident that the work that they will do is up to international standards. I don’t disparage the CARICOM team, I am not dismissive of their efforts. I went through a lot of trouble, I hosted the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and Trinidad, and I would like to see that mission succeed.”

Prior to her receipt of the letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Lynch, during an interview with the 94.1 FM’s Jumpstart Morning Show, had stated that she believes “additional credibility” is needed in Guyana’s national recount process, in the form of The Carter Center, so that Guyanese can have “complete confidence” that their elections were free, fair and credible.

However, CARICOM has established itself as “the most legitimate interlocutors” in Guyana’s national recount process. In a message to the OAS through Permanent Representative of Barbados to the OAS, Ambassador Noel Lynch, it was stated.

“CARICOM countries are not merely a group of countries held together by rules; the majority of them are held together by values rooted in centuries of history and fraternity, and in a bitter struggle for their peoples’ rights, including the right to elect governments freely and fairly in a democratic process. If democracy fails in any CARICOM country, it fails in the larger Community. If it is imperiled in any part of our Community, it is imperiled everywhere in it. As an institution, CARICOM cannot allow this to happen in any member state…just as democracy matters to the people of Guyana, so it matters to the Caribbean Community of which the nation of Guyana is a valued member. That is why we of CARICOM regard ourselves as the most legitimate interlocutors in the Guyana situation.”

The CARICOM scrutinizing team arrived in Guyana on May 1 and includes Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission, John Jarvis; and Supervisor of the St Vincent Electoral Commission, Sylvester King. The President has reiterated calls for the international community to respect the correspondence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the right of the government of Guyana to protect the best interest of its people.