DESPITE several People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R) members currently before the courts on electoral fraud charges, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton defended former PNC/R General Secretary, Georgetown Mayor and Prime Minister Hamilton Green’s statements about rigging.

During a press conference, Norton said: “… When I listened to what Hamilton Green said. He said “if” they say the PNC is rigging, now when it is carried by the press, they would have left out “if”, and so it would have changed the context.”
While claiming that the Former Mayor was “taken out of context,” Norton said that over the years, the Guyanese veteran politician’s choice of language has been exceptional.

He said: “Hamilton Green is probably the longest existing politician in this country. Hamilton Green has an ability to choose the language, and he has shown over the years that [his] choice of language has been exceptional. And, therefore, I do not believe that Hamilton Green will make some wild statement,” adding: “But I think Green was taken out of context.”

During the ceremony of the 101st birth anniversary of PNC/R’s founder and former Head of State, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, Green said: “If, as I told one of the groups that I met this morning, they say he rigged elections, I say we should keep rigging.”

Fellow PNC/R member Ganesh Mahipaul weighed in and said that he was “taken aback” by Green’s comments.
Mahipaul said: “…When I read that article, I personally was taken aback as a PNC/R member and a central executive member, but I did not just hold on to that article. I wanted assurance.”

Furthermore, Norton attempted to deflate the gravity of the accusations of electoral fraud, which several Opposition members are currently before the court for.
The Opposition Leader said: “Now the second thing I want to say is, it is clear that there are trumped up charges against PNC persons.”

After a three-year delay, the trial into the long-awaited electoral fraud case involving former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former PNC/R Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph and four others is set to commence on March 4.

During a case management conference (CMC), additional statements were handed over to the court. Subsequently, Magistrate Leron Daly set timelines for the trial.
The trial will commence from March 4-8. Additionally, the first weeks of April and May have been set aside for the case to be heard.

Special Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani, KC, will lead the evidence in the case.
The trio, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller, are before the court for allegedly defrauding the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

At the last court hearing in December, the State handed over, again, flash drives containing certified copies of Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs), along with video interviews. Several bundles of documents were also submitted.

It is alleged that the defendants inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the APNU+AFC coalition a majority win at the polls when, in fact, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won by 15,000 votes.

A lengthy recount of the votes eventually declared victory in favour of the PPP/C, and Dr. Irfaan Ali was sworn in as the President of Guyana on August 2, 2020.