By Ron Cheong
A REMARKABLE thing is happening in the US that offers a great example for Guyanese, and hopefully augurs possibilities as the Commission of Inquiry into the attempt to rig and overturn Guyana’s 2020 elections announced by President Ali on Thursday, gets set to begin.

That remarkable portend centres on the US’s own commission of enquiry into the 1/6 attempt to overturn their 2020 election. In a break from what has mostly happened to this point, the commission is seeing a number of life-long, prominent establishment Republicans coming forward and giving public testimony against Trump’s failed attempt to cling to power by invalidating the election results, and against his role in instigating the Capitol riot.

And as the story unfolds and details are revealed, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges in the person of Mike Pence, the former Vice-President who played a pivotal role in thwarting Trump’s attempt to prevent the certification of the election results on January 6, 2021 during a joint session of Congress presided over by Pence himself at the Capitol.

In a singular act of bravery, under threat of armed insurgents who brought a noose and gallows and were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence” – he refused to leave the Capitol. The mob came within 40 feet of Pence and his wife, who minutes before were hidden by his security detail in a secret bunker in the Capitol basement.

There they remained for four and a half hours, after which, rather than allowing himself to be whisked away in an awaiting car by his security detail, Pence insisted on returning to reconvene the joint session of Congress where he presided over the certifying of the 2020 election results, declaring Democratic candidates Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris, the new Vice-President. In this tipping point in history and under immense pressure, Pence placed country, integrity and the law above President and party.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney is another Republican who put country before self-interest and the chance of jeopardising prospects of her upcoming re-election to congress. She is the Vice-Chair of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, Capitol riot. Addressing her remarks to her fellow Republicans who continue to perpetuate the lie promoted by Trump that the election was stolen by the Democrats, the congresswoman seared them with the observation:

“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonour will remain.”

DISHONOUR REMAINS
Having endured a somewhat similar, traumatic assault on our democracy that has saddled our country with the stain and dubious distinction of a record five-month delay between elections and declaration of the results on August 2, 2020, Guyana would benefit from the type of honourable examples seen above of commitment to truth, lawfulness and country. To my recollection, the only prominent member of the opposition coalition who, to his great credit, followed his conscience and spoke out against the rigging attempt was the former Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin. Hopefully, others will now follow.

There has since been some changes in leadership in the constituent parties of APNU. Some of those who tried to cling to power by spreading falsehoods about the elections are gone, but their dishonour remains. As does the dishonour of those who remain and continue to perpetuate the falsehoods.

It is tragic when the leaders people trust betray them. When those leaders, more interested in power than in the welfare of the people, deliberately mislead their followers with falsehoods. We often more readily spot such manipulation from a distance than when immersed in it. This is another reason that the vantage position of viewing the parallel American situation with some degree of separation is so instructive.

ORCHESTRATED PLOT
Make no mistake, the rigging attempt was not just some actions by errant GECOM employees projecting doctored results unto a bedsheet or attempting to suppress turnout with the “private residence” debacle, but something that was planned and executed and can be traced to actors higher in the food chain pulling the strings. There is a trail to be followed from efforts that went into institutional hijacking, the unilateral appointment of Justice Patterson, the breaking of the Carter formula, and the creation of the Ministry of Communities which reportedly had over 50 people who didn’t work there on its payroll. And questions as to whether GECOM data was made available to accomplices.

Also, by way of reminder, there was the mysterious calls directing the then Foreign Minister to throw out international election observers; the then Commissioner of Police certifying that hundreds of voters were out of the country, until those voters started showing up and asking what was going on; the smokescreen put out about Russian hackers hacking Guyana’s manual election system and much more.

But for the efforts of countless Guyanese who worked diligently and exposed themselves to risk to preserve our hard-won democracy, the country may have well been cast back into the dictatorship of dark bygone days. Hopefully, the CoI will be able to shed light on some of the above issues. It would also be enormously refreshing if some members of the opposition can see their way fit to put country before party, as is now playing out in the US and come forward to testify before the CoI.