–says bomb threat wasn’t genuine

HEAD of the Diaspora Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Rosalinda Rasul, was the first key witness to take the stand in the long-awaited trial concerning the alleged fraud during Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Rasul testified that former Returning Officer for District Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Clairmont Mingo, continued using spreadsheets for vote tabulation despite Chief Justice Roxane George’s explicit orders to adhere strictly to the Statements of Poll (SoPs).
The high-profile trial, which has captured national attention, commenced on Tuesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts under the oversight of acting Chief Magistrate, Faith McGusty.

The defendants include People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) activist Carol Smith-Joseph; former Health Minister under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; Mingo; and GECOM staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
They collectively face 19 conspiracy charges related to alleged electoral fraud. Prosecutors allege that between March 2, 2020, and August 2, 2020, Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo conspired with the other defendants to defraud the electorate by declaring a false account of the votes cast in the contentious elections.

RASUL’S TESTIMONY
Rasul told the court that she served as an election observer for the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Guyana. Her account provided a detailed narrative of the alleged misconduct at the GECOM Command Centre at the Ashmin’s building.
She recalled that on March 4, 2020, at 9:00 hours, the tabulation process was set to resume, as announced by Myers. However, shortly after, a loud noise was heard outside the room, and paramedics were seen carrying Mingo.

“I saw Mr. Mingo; he was strapped onto a chair and had a respirator on his nose,” Rasul testified. Myers later informed observers that Mingo’s vitals had been checked and he was fine, and that tabulation would resume shortly.
However, it was not until 13:00 hours that another announcement was made, stating that the process would restart with the East Bank district.

This decision was met with strong objections from representatives of other political parties, including People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) scrutineers Sasenarine Singh and Sonia Parag.
They had argued that the tabulation for Georgetown remained incomplete and should be finished before moving to another district.

Discrepancies arose over the number of ballot boxes left to be verified for Georgetown. Myers initially stated that only three boxes remained, but Parag countered, asserting that there were more.
Rasul testified that she personally identified 59 uncounted boxes and handed the information to Myers. However, no action was taken by the GECOM official.
Later that evening, Myers announced that the process would resume and introduced Michelle Miller and another woman as those responsible for completing the tabulation.

This sparked further objections, except from APNU+AFC representatives, as Miller was reading numbers from a pre-prepared paper while the other woman entered data into a laptop, instead of using the SoPs.
“I said loudly, ‘Can someone bring the CEO into the room?’” Rasul testified.

Upon Lowenfield’s arrival, she said he dismissed concerns, stating that the spreadsheet was being used for expediency purposes.
Despite objections from A New and United Guyana (ANUG), United Republican Party (URP), and PPP/C representatives, Miller continued reading from the spreadsheet.
Party agents compared the numbers to the SoPs and found widespread inconsistencies.

Attorney-at-law Teni Housty, who was observing on behalf of the Guyana Bar Association, informed Lowenfield that Section 84:1 of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) mandates that the Returning Officer determine the total number of votes cast for each list based on the SoPs.
“If you look at what was taking place in the room, there were a lot of discrepancies raised, which meant that at the end of the process, all those SoPs would have to be brought back for verification,” Rasul noted.
She said then-Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo also engaged Lowenfield, pointing out that tabulation errors were minimal when SoPs were used.

Jagdeo further requested that a projector screen be set up so that numbers being entered into the laptop could be verified in real-time.
Eventually, GECOM ruled that SoPs should be used for tabulation, and the process continued until 20:35 hours that evening.

“Miller proceeded to call numbers from the SoPs again, and this continued until about 21:00 hours, when she suddenly halted the process, citing fatigue. This led to a loud outcry from party agents, including Sasenarine Singh, who argued that they had just returned from a break and should not need another one,” Rasul recounted.

Despite the pushback, Lowenfield insisted that the process would continue well into the night, but it was halted at that point.
MARCH 5, 2020
At 12:46 hours on March 5, Livan and Paul Jaisingh took over tabulation. Rasul noted that Livan initially read numbers correctly but soon began making errors. Within 30 minutes, Livan claimed he was “not cut out for this” and too tired to continue, left the room, then returned to take a flash drive and the

laptop used for data entry.
She recounted hearing shouts from ANUG and PPP/C observers that the numbers were changed, and these claims were being related to Lowenfield, who was present.
Rasul also provided details about the infamous bomb threat, which some say was designed to remove party agents from witnessing the tabulation process for Region Four.

“I didn’t believe that it was a genuine bomb threat,” Rasul said when questioned why she stayed in the room by the prosecutor.
Later that day, she reported seeing Lawrence about noon, followed by Mingo, who was holding a piece of paper.
The witness added that since the tabulation exercise was halted on March 3, 2020, due to the then-Returning Officer’s complaint of fatigue, she had not seen him before.

Mingo attempted to make a false declaration from the stairway connecting the ground floor to the first floor of the building.
He attempted to make a declaration from data derived from spreadsheets, which the Commission had never authorised.

However, his declaration was met with roaring objections by observers, and this caused police officers to block the stairway to the second floor, where the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired judge, Justice Claudette Singh was located.

Myers later came and instructed everyone to leave the building even though the tabulation process was not completed, with over 500 SoPs left to still be verified from the district which Mingo had falsely declared.
The APNU+AFC Coalition received 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C received 166,343 votes, according to former CEO Lowenfield’s election report.

It was evident from the official findings of the recount process, which was supervised by GECOM and a high-level Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team that the coalition had, in fact, received 217,920 votes, while the PPP/C had received 233,336 votes, which was enough to win.
In order to help the APNU+AFC caretaker administration stay in power, Mingo and the other defendants, allegedly inflated the results in Region Four, as the recount process also revealed.

In August 2021, GECOM made the decision to sack Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo.
The case was adjourned until Wednesday at 9:30 hours for continuation of Rasul’s evidence.