IT is now close to four years since Guyana was held hostage by the APNU+AFC Coalition and its political agents. The last five months of the ordeal are still fresh in the minds of the Guyanese public and all those who were intimately involved in trying to stop the APNU+AFC and PNC/R from rigging and stealing the 2020 elections.

Those five months saw ordinary and patriotic Guyanese stand up to all forms of tyranny and dictatorial behaviours employed then by the now opposition to try and disenfranchise thousands of voters. At that time, Guyana was on the cusp of becoming a pariah state as its democratic credentials slowly evaporated before the public’s eyes.
However, those Guyanese backed by the regional and international political and non-political players were successful in wrestling power away from the clutches of the APNU+AFC regime. They and the PPP helped restore democracy in Guyana and protected the vote or ballot. The will of the people triumphed over the evil and skullduggery of the APNU+AFC+PNC.

The PPP/C administration came to power. It promised to have every major player involved in scandalous ordeal from the APNU+AFC+PNC and even from within the GECOM face the music. It said it had evidence to secure convictions for the election fraud cases after bringing quickly several politicians and professionals to stand trial.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, was confident that the state has a case that could be considered ‘air-tight’ against the alleged elections thieves and fraudsters.

Around two years later, Minister Nandlall started to express worry about the state of the case, urging the Courts to move swiftly along. He was joined by several other ministers and PPP politicians who, from time to time, have been critical of the case and the developments, albeit slow.
The election case started but came to an abrupt halt this year because the magistrate had fallen suddenly ill. Then, the case started Friday with a new Magistrate taking over and was delayed again until November 6, 2024, because of the availability of witnesses and other issues.

Firstly, it is four years and counting, and we are not anywhere close to arriving at the dispensation of justice. We are dragging our feet and behaving like this is a petty crime or occurrence that took place in 2020. For that matter, petty crimes are dealt with speedily and justice is done. In this case, several of the accused threatened to steal a WHOLE election.
They threatened the democracy that prevailed in 2020. They used a bed sheet and tried but failed to fraudulently declare the results in their favour.

This assault continued with a very sophisticated attempt to ‘pull the wool’ over the eyes of the public while they were busy taking all the necessary risks to preserve the status quo.
So, this case is both important and critical to safeguarding election 2025 by punishing whoever breached the laws in 2020. This is critical too because it would send a strong signal to the politicians about the need to respect our election.

What doesn’t the Court understand about the importance of this case? What are we missing? Why are all the delays and issues being faced? Why are they (Courts) not prepared for the case? Why is it taking such lengthy periods to have the case heard and determined at trial? Isn’t the election skullduggery or wrongdoing important enough or high-profile enough to warrant special attention? What are those in the key portfolios concerning case management doing?

Secondly, the Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards must be concerned about the status quo of the case. She should have been concerned about this case from the beginning. She is not above criticism and she has presided over the case callously given the supervisory and management powers attributed to her.
Cummings-Edwards cannot remain silent in the face of this atrocity that is playing out in her court system. She must act or be seen to be acting for the quality and speed of justice that will take place with the case.

After all, she must impress upon the officers of the court that justice delayed is justice denied. And, surely the judiciary does not want any member of the public or executive feeling that they cannot get justice or their case is unfairly delayed.
What else does the public have to say to express their disgust over the fact that the case is moving at a snail’s pace and too slowly? Or is it deliberate on the part of the Judiciary to let their sidesteps, delays and contrived controversies take place?

Thirdly, there are still more questions than answers as to how the case would be heard, and what happened to the evidence as well as witnesses that the Court already has in its possession. Would it be starting afresh or continuing?
We heard that Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty will preside over the matter. Is she prepared or would she need more time to familiarise herself with it, causing understandable worry given the magnitude of the case? Tell the public the general timeline of the proceedings and end all criticisms and worries.

Suspicion is rife with the elections coming next year.
Finally, the court system in Guyana must uphold the constitution. It must not only be fair and objective in its quest for justice but be mindful that a major tenet of justice is that it is timely and quick.
The outcome of these elections cases has to serve as a sort of testing of the legislation already in place that speaks to the subject of fraud and wrongdoing at election time. The outcome of this trial is anybody’s guess.

The judiciary must not be seen as obstructing justice and the inevitable from taking place if found guilty. Guyana deserves much better and this is a case of justice delayed is justice denied.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.