By Richard Bhainie

FROM “Charrandas say no”, a mathematics equation conundrum and “Mingo’s Bingo”, the events prior and subsequent to the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections that had Guyanese at the edge of their seats, have been documented and complied into a single source.

The book, titled, “Democracy in Distress”, was written by a young economist, Stephen Kissoon; it documents the events that took place from December 21, 2018 No-Confidence motion, to August 2, 2020 – the swearing-in of Dr. Irfaan Ali as the President of Guyana.

Kissoon currently serves as an economist at the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and is the former executive director of the Guyana Association of Bankers. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of Guyana.

During the virtual book launch on Friday, Kissoon explained that the book encapsulates a factual “step by step” account of the series of events that transpired during the said period, with information gathered from various reputable sources. He made it clear that it is not an opinionated piece.

He iterated that the purpose of the book is to provide in “extremely great detail” a proper documentation of the infamous events, for future generations to make reference to.

“What I was trying to achieve by this documentation is to have a one-stop shop for future researchers to use as the basis for their future research and to have an unbiased authority on this event,” he said during the book launch.

Kissoon explained that there were some significant political events in Guyana’s timeline that were not properly documented, and it would be a shame for the same to happen to the recent elections fiasco.

“The reason that I embarked on this endeavor is because, fundamentally, Guyana, as a nation, has gone through an endless amount of political turmoil. The difference in this case is that our political turmoil was married with constitutional turmoil and none of these events were documented in a satisfactory manner,”Kissoon contended.

The first chapter covers a brief historical background of Guyana’s post-independence history and some of the social and political issues that plagued the country since. The second chapter covers the No-Confidence motion and the evening of December 21, 2018, while the third covers the events that followed.

The fourth chapter, which he referred to as the climax of the book, covers the elections following the Election Day, while the fifth chapter covers the recount process. The last chapter, the eight chapter, deals with a statistical analysis of the numerous declarations of the elections results.

Present at the launch was the Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., who penned the foreword of the book. Nandlall noted that the book is “refreshing and indeed enlightening … that we see a young intellectual of the caliber of Mr. Kissoon choosing the method of writing a book to chronicle a compendium of events which will remain forever etched in the Guyana contemporary history.”