-lawyer to cross-examine witnesses today

FORMER Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, on Tuesday, declined to testify in the ongoing Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into events surrounding the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Myers was summoned to testify before the tribunal and showed up with her attorney, Nigel Hughes, who told the CoI commissioners that his client did not wish to testify since she is part of a criminal matter before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in relation to the elections.

Hughes also requested permission to cross-examine witnesses who had testified about the actions of Myers and others during the vote count.

The CoI commissioners granted the request and the attorney will cross examine witnesses including Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairwoman, Justice (retired) Claudette Singh.

The hearing is scheduled to continue today.

Thus far, former Minister of Health Volda Lawrence; APNU+AFC activist Carol Smith-Joseph; APNU+AFC-appointed commissioner on the Local Government Commission (LGC), Nicola Denise Trotman; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karen Cummings; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield; former GECOM District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; and GECOM staff members Sheffern February, Denise Babb-Cummings, Carolyn Duncan, Enrique Livan and Michelle Miller, along with Senior Superintendent Phillip Azore have all opted to remain silent and not testify.

The CoI was provided with details of how some GECOM employees participated in the suspected plot to divert votes to the APNU +AFC instead of safeguarding the electoral system.

Witnesses have testified about the actions of Lowenfield, Myers, Mingo and Livan during the vote count.

The GECOM employees are all before the court on electoral fraud charges.

Further, the CoI was told that GECOM staffers ignored specific instructions from the court, used materials that were illegal and or manipulated, and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever objections were raised.

Smith-Joseph has been named by witnesses testifying before the CoI as one of the persons who threatened to stomp attorney, Pauline Chase, an observer representing the Bar Association, in the face, and also threatened to spit in the face of private sector representative, Kit Nascimento.

Joseph had also told diplomats from the ABCE countries to “get the f– out of Guyana.”

Testimony was also provided that Dr. Cummings had received a call and then passed that phone onto Myers during an encounter at the Ashmin’s building, the headquarters of the Region Four Returning Officer, where the final tabulation was taking place.

Guyanese, after casting their votes on March 2, 2020, had to endure a five-month wait for the results of the elections, as they witnessed alleged unlawful acts and a slew of legal challenges.

During this time, the patience of the electorate was tested, as electors observed what were described as attempts by the then APNU+AFC administration to rip the democratic fabric of the nation with “delay tactics” which were openly criticised by Caribbean leaders and international observers.

It was only after the legal challenges and international intervention that a national recount of all votes cast was convened and the figures showed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) received 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC coalition got 217,920 votes.