Dear Editor,
Our country will soon have Local Government Elections, the first elections to be hosted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) since the debacle following the March 2020 polling processes. It is time to re-look at some of the core influencing factors to the problems that threatened the core fabric of democratic existence and took the country to the precipice of national incivility.

No loopholes should prevent the imposition of the strongest penalties on those culpable for the flagrant violations of the applicable laws, because of the need to make the eradication of elections rigging absolute and to assure national confidence and credible election results.

As a collective, our citizens are aware of the massive degree of caution undertaken by the newly appointed administrators, to lift the suffered credibility of the organisation caused by the questionable actions of the former Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield et.al cabal. One, therefore, anticipates the delivery of a more fluent results-driven agenda that will be instructive to commencing a necessary resuscitation of national confidence required for an enhanced GECOM’s image.

Historically, there is much justification for condemnation of the role officials of the GECOM played and were able to escape with as they flagrantly abused the related laws and approved procedures. Frankly speaking, for decades, the key orchestrators were protected and rewarded for cheating the nation by the PNC who through clandestine maneuvers supported the muscled manipulation of decision-making and controls of the Elections Commission.

History has documented the distasteful experiences of the PPP who were kept in opposition due to the damning condemnatory controls of GECOM Commissioners like Harold Bollers. Comparatively, one only has to take a cursory look at the decisions of President Granger’s imposed James Patterson as GECOM Chairman.

The attempts targeted a repeat at re-establishing undemocratic foundational fault lines that had supported the PNC’s thievery for decades. Thankfully, the abuses of this power were wrenched away by the decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) when the challenges were addressed.

Although he previously operated from within the shadows and under the covers of the political imbalance at the Commission Level, the infamous CCJ’s decision concerning James Patterson as Chairman served to strip Lowenfield of his disguising cover as he had to step up in the most flagrant ways. The likely results that he would have been caught naturally materialised, but barely, as his ejection would not have materialised without the interventionist guardian rejection of the national and international communities.

Rational observation of the scenario points to the systemic cheating agenda and their seeming immunity to rigging. These influences stem from the core character of the PNC operatives, which informs the harder problem to dispel for long-term focus and address. What is certain is that deliberate attempts to distort the outcome of the elections by the senior functionary within GECOM, must not be condoned.

Consequently, Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo must face the courts immediately and stand the consequences for their alleged deliberate and blatant attempts to derail the National and Regional Elections in 2020. The swift execution of justice in this respect is required to unequivocally confirm that it is not at all ok to cheat and steal in particular, the rights and destiny of our peoples.

Editor, since 1968, the PNC operatives took pride in rolling out an indoctrination agenda that achieving and maintaining power by any means necessary, is a nationalistic ideal. Sadly, and duplicitously, those who were more strongly involved in rigging elections in Guyana were naturally idolised in the PNC’s ranks. In this context, the full control of GECOM was not enough to support their rigging platform, but a mandatory component of their wider focused manipulation areas for strategic manipulation.

In 1973, the PNC used the Army to blatantly rig the National Elections and they murdered and killed in the process. We must never forget the ballot box martyrs who paid with their lives for standing up against the PNC-directed murderous assaults. The 1980 and 1985 elections were massively rigged and it was this massive rigging that caused the people of this country to unite in the formation of the Political Committee for Democracy, (PCD); eventually leading to the dawn of a new era in 1992 when the PPP/C won the National and Regional Elections.

Again, the APNU+AFC attempts to steal the Government in 2020, forced the united opposition to strongly resist, and with the unflinching support of the international community a newly formed ‘Guardian of democracy,’ emerged from the Guyanese electorate. They resisted for five long months, eventually winning their truthful people elected democratic rights to govern this country. During the process, it became clear that Lowenfield had deliberately engineered and allowed the usage of the illegal spreadsheets of fictitious results.

Further, the more diligent our guardians were, the more he demonstrated his ulterior motives and denied the usage of the legal Statements of Polls for the tabulation process. As the CEO of the GECOM Secretariat, his conduct dealt a deep body blow to the integrity of Guyana’s electoral system and cherished democratic values. Such occurrences justly and forcefully must be condemned as the ultimate betrayal of trust in the highest election official in the land, by the people of Guyana.

As for Myers, her attitude and role in the efforts to derail the process were most distasteful and typically what is not required in a DCEO of GECOM. She insulted the imminent foreign observers and was certainly a stranger to the truth. Myers’ remarks to the party agents and international observers were condescending, insulting and distasteful as she attempted to force them out of the tabulation room with the assertion “take your rubbish with you and leave.”

The PNC used Lowenfield to catapult Mingo from Region #5 to Region #4 as Returning Officer (RO), which was a clear indication of their intentions. Mingo’s role in the use of the Lowenfield spreadsheet was indeed vehemently opposed. Several persons are continuing to work at GECOM who were summoned to appear before the Commission of Inquiry but did not appear. It must be noted that GECOM will still have to further cleanse itself from the remnant rogue elements and ensure adequate internal counter-checking mechanisms.

The Commission of Inquiry must be complimented for a good job. However, those who are before the court must be given a speedy trial, and when found guilty they must be prosecuted so as to send a clear message on rigged elections’. Our citizens now demand a no-tolerance with the Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo type of operations!

Yours truly,
Neil Kumar