THE decision of Magistrate Leron Daly, that the charges against former Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, be dealt with indictably, was, on Wednesday, upheld by High Court Judge, Franklyn Holder.

Myers is before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on two counts of misconduct in public office in relation to the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.

In February, Magistrate Daly upheld a submission made by Myers’ lawyer, Nigel Hughes, asking that the charges against her remain indictable.
By ruling in favour of the submission, Magistrate Daly was expected to conduct a PI to determine whether there is sufficient evidence against the former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) official to warrant the matter going to trial at the Demerara High Court.

However the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali Hack, S.C., appealed the decision seeking judicial review.
The DPP had contended that the magistrate’s decision was irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary, ultra vires, without legal foundation, contrary to natural justice, and without legal authority.

Justice Holder, while delivering his ruling, said he found that the magistrate rightly applied the principles in the Summary Jurisdiction Act when she exercised her discretion to have the matter processed indictably.

He also found that Magistrate Daly was not unreasonable or irrational in her ruling.
As such, the charges against Myers will remain indictable and a preliminary inquiry is expected to commence soon.

Recently, Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, along with Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, and his deputy, Roxanne Myers, had their employment terminated by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Lowenfield and Mingo have similar matters pending in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

In October 2020, Myers was first arraigned and was released on $300,000 bail by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
The charges against Myers alleged that between March 4 and March 14, 2020, in Georgetown, while being a public officer, that is to say the Deputy Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission, she willfully misconducted herself together with Clairmont Mingo and others, to declare a fraudulent account of votes for the General and Regional Elections which amounted to a breach of the public’s trust in the office of the said DCEO of Guyana Elections Commission, without any reasonable excuse or justification.

On October 6, 2020,  Myers surrendered herself to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) after she was tipped off that the police were preparing to release a wanted bulletin for her.

During her interrogation, she was asked 11 questions to which she replied, “I reserve my right to remain silent.” She was not granted station bail and remained in custody until her court appearance.

Chairperson of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), Volda Lawrence; PNC activist, Carol Joseph and Mingo are all accused of inflating the results of Region Four – Guyana’s largest voting district – to give the APNU+AFC Coalition a majority win at the March 2, 2020 polls, when, in fact, the PPP/C had won by 15,000 votes.

They first appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on October 21, 2020, before Principal Magistrate, Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus, and were each released on bail.

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) launched a ‘comprehensive’ investigation into all allegations of criminal misconduct in the aftermath of the 2020 elections.