–Jagdeo blasts party for dodging core matters

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, has lambasted the Alliance for Change (AFC) for attempting to hide the reality that it does not have a developmental plan for Guyana and dodging accountability for its role in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Labelling the party as “duplicitous,” the PPP General Secretary, during a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, pointed to the ongoing efforts by the AFC to escape pressing issues.
He said: “This party is even more duplicitous than the PNC and it gets help from some elements in the media…You will hear a lot of noise during the course of the week; in fact, contrived, created situations to get them into the news. The issuance of ten press releases during the week that make no sense whatsoever…”

Jagdeo added that these efforts are done to mask the fact that they do not have a plan for the country, have not published their promised oil and gas plan, and have not reviewed their role in the 2020 General and Regional Elections, as promised.
Jagdeo said that the party is creating “smokescreens” and hopscotching from topic to topic, every week, in order to avoid core matters.

While stating that the AFC is trying to remove its stain that it got from the previous elections, he added: “They hope they can just, by ignoring it, we will forget it, [that] the country will forget it.”
Deciding to shed light on the subject matters that the AFC is seemingly swerving, the PPP General Secretary started with the party’s role in the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

While highlighting that the AFC Member, Cathy Hughes, had even gone so far as to shut down a media reporter who was hot on the party’s tail in regards to the previous elections, Jagdeo noted that there were evident attempts to double down on previous party statements.
The recent Commission of Inquiry in the March 2, 2020 general regional elections along with regional and international electoral observer missions have concluded that key members of the AFC, who were part of the APNU+AFC coalition, were part of an elaborate plot to rig the 2020 elections.
Three former members of the AFC, Trevor Williams, Dominic Gaskin and Leonard Craig, and one current member Michael Carrington have all said publicly that the APNU+AFC lost the 2020 elections and that there were attempts to change the results to deny the PPP/C its victory.
“…They don’t want to account for their lies,” Jagdeo said as he pointed to the AFC’s alleged role of electoral misconduct.
SERIES OF LIES

Although AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes publicly stated that no apology will be forthcoming from the AFC for its role in the 2020 General and Regional Elections rigging attempts, until the party conducts a review of what it did during those elections, that has not yet been done.
In fact, despite his commitment to conduct the analysis, Hughes blamed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for not yet starting the process.
However, GECOM called out both Hughes and AFC Executive Member, David Patterson, for pieces of disinformation it was peddling within the public.

Explaining what actually transpired, GECOM, in a press statement, said that the AFC wrote a letter dated September 9, 2024, addressed to Mr. Vishnu Persaud, Chief Election Officer (CEO), requesting a meeting for the new Executive of this Party to be apprised of “GECOM’s preparations for future elections and how it intends to address burning issues about electoral integrity.”

The CEO wrote a response dated September 11, 2024, copied to the GECOM Chairman, advising the AFC that he (CEO) does not have the authority to arrange meetings on behalf of the Commission and that the letter should be addressed to the Chairman.
Taking the cue from receipt of the copy of the CEO’s correspondence to the AFC, GECOM Chairman, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh proactively wrote the AFC a letter dated September 23, 2024, with reference to their September 9, 2024 letter to the CEO, and requested that the party indicate whether October 8 or 22, 2024, would be convenient for a delegation to meet with GECOM.

It was not until October 17, 2024 that the party wrote the GECOM Chairman expressing regrets for the delay in responding, and noting that this lapse was due to overseas travel by the Leader and other key executive members.
The Chairman promptly responded by way of a letter dated October 18, 2024, requesting that the AFC, as per the norm for meetings with Political Parties, provide a list of issues and concerns the party is desirous of addressing and that, upon receipt, a new date would be set for the requested meeting. The AFC responded through a letter dated November 11, 2024, in which the following matters were listed for discussion with the Commission: – GECOM’s reasons for rejecting the introduction of biometrics as a tool for improving the credibility of all electoral processes; GECOM’S willingness to allow party scrutineers to vote on the same date as the Disciplined Forces; and GECOM’s views on the willingness to support, the purging of the List of Electors of persons who are not ordinarily resident in Guyana, or deceased.

Due to demanding matters that were engaging the attention of the Commission at the time of receipt of the AFC’s last letter, the Chairman responded on November 27, 2024 inviting the AFC to a meeting on December 3, 2024. Up to press time, no response has been received.