PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali, in keeping with an earlier commitment, has appointed a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events that transpired following polling day on March 2, 2020.
The Chairman of the Commission is retired Justice of Appeal Stanley John, and the other members of the commission are former Attorney General, High Court Judge and Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Godfrey P Smith, S.C.; former Chair and Chief Elections Commissioner of India, Dr. SY Quraishi, and former Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh, OR CCH.
These are legal luminaries, all of whom have distinguished themselves in the field of law and jurisprudence. In the case of the retired Justice John, he currently serves as non-resident Justice of Appeal on the Turks and Caicos Islands, and presides over criminal and civil appeals from the Supreme Court.
He also previously served as temporary High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court in Montserrat during the period April-July 2021. He served as temporary High Court Judge of The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the British Virgin Islands and temporary High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in Antigua and Barbuda.
It is unnecessary, if not superfluous, to establish the credentials of the Chairman and the other members of the Commission except to make the point that President Ali must be commended for living up to his commitment to establish a CoI and to put together such a team of eminently qualified and highly respected members of the legal community drawn from Guyana, the Caribbean and India.
These are individuals who are not only knowledgeable in law but, as in the case of Dr. Quraishi, was a former Chief Elections Officer of India, considered the world’s largest democracy.
One would have thought that the main political opposition, the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) would have welcomed such a development, having regard to the fact that it continues to peddle a false narrative of being “cheated” out of office.
Instead, the APNU+AFC appeared unenthusiastic about the establishment and appeared to have more faith in the courts and, interestingly, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct such an exercise.
The matter is still before the courts and the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission had made it clear that it is outside the remit of GECOM to conduct such a probe. As far as the PNC/R is concerned, it views the CoI as “interference in the judicial process.”
The fact is that given the damage done to the image and the democratic credentials of the country by the APNU+AFC coalition in collaboration with rogue elements of GECOM during the course of the tabulation of results, an independent investigation into the events that led to the delay in the announcement of the results and the swearing-in of the President is both timely and necessary.
For the first time in the history of Guyana and the Caribbean, if not beyond, the results of an election took such an inordinately long time to be declared.
There were counts and recounts and the declaration of multiple results by the then Chief Elections Officer, all purporting to show a “victory” by the incumbent APNU+AFC until the intervention of the courts, which ruled that only valid votes counted by a GECOM supervised recount exercise be used for the purposes of a final declaration.
On the basis of the ruling of the court, the Chairman of GECOM declared that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won the elections and Dr. Ali was sworn in as the duly elected Executive President of Guyana, but not until six months after the date of poll!
The Commission of Inquiry, no doubt, will have its work cut out with an abundance of testimonials, statements and reports by individuals, representatives from several contesting political parties and representatives of local and international observer groups. There is also access to the Statements of Poll (SOPs) as submitted by GECOM should that be necessary.
Moreover, individuals and organisations of interest to the commission could be summoned with the force of law, if necessary, to appear before the commission to give evidence.
The APNU+AFC has an opportunity to substantiate their allegations of electoral fraud before the commission.
As for President Ali and the PPP/C, “the CoI will set those who dwell in the house of democracy against those who dwell in the fire of undemocratic rule and norms.”
The CoI, according to President Ali, will see Guyana celebrating yet another victory. Guyanese, and the entire democratic world, are looking forward to the findings of the commission, even though the findings are hardly likely to come as a surprise to the vast majority of Guyanese who saw first-hand what actually transpired.
