Dear Editor,

The Kaieteur News July 6^th edition carried a report of an interview, Kaieteur Radio did with Canadian- Guyanese Attorney -at- Law, Selwyn Pieters who was an accredited local observer for the Guyana Bar Association at the March 2 General and Regional Elections. The article was captioned, “  New details emerge about Clairmont Mingo’s fraudulent declaration.”

In its attempt at exposing Mingo’s conduct in the tabulation process at the Media/ Command Center during the Region 4 declarations, the article also exposed the PPPC control of employees of Guyana Election Commission (GECOM ) who were at the call of that party throughout the election process. It is this control of important GECOM officials that enabled that party to engage in massive election fraud on the ground on Election Day.

Back to the article, it reads, “ The Attorney stated that the opposition at that point contacted their own Returning Officers after the commission had some difficulties finding replacements but this did not sit well with the  CEO who got into a heated discussion with the former Attorney General and PPP top brass, Anil Nandlall.”

“ When Lowenfield said well, we don’t have the two DRO’s”, Pieters related, “ there became a debate with Mr. Ali and Mr. Nandlall and Mr, Lowenfield and Mr. Mustapha. And other observers were there and what was interesting was, you saw that, if you look at the videos, you’ll see about 30 or 40 cameras recording.  Mr. Lowenfield basically claimed that he could not trust the DRO’s that were there that the PPP brought, and these were his employees. “

According to Pieters, all the above took place in the presence of the International Observers, representatives of the diplomatic community and an array of local observers including representatives of the smaller parties. It is revealing that no one in this distinguished group of democrats and impractical election observers saw anything wrong, suspicious or questionable that the opposition PPP had effective control of GECOM employees and could summon them as need be. Or it damn well didn’t matter to these disciples of democracy bearing in mind that these employees are by law and convention in the election process, accountable only to GECOM and not political parties. The fact that the PPP was able to provide two replacement DROs in terms of electoral malpractices speaks volumes.  When observers local or foreign are observing an election with a vested interest in the outcome, these matters are deliberately overlooked – expediency becomes the rule of the game. Their lens was focused on the APNU+AFC and not on the PPPC.

In Guyana, we have a proverb that says, “mouth open story jump out”, Attorney Selwyn Pieters in opening his mouth has done a great service to the coalition and its supporters by unwittingly exposing the PPPC’s corrupt control of some GECOM officials. Mr Pieters testimony can’t be claimed by the opposition as APNU+AFC propaganda or disinformation.

I end by making this observation, “ the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Regards
Tacuma Ogunseye