THE election fraud trial involving several former elections officials and political figures resumed on Monday after a three-month adjournment, with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward and former Information Technology Manager Aneal Giddings taking the witness stand before Magistrate Faith McGusty.
When the matter was called on Monday morning, Ward, who testified first, outlined her role in the publication and subsequent removal of declarations of results from GECOM’s website following the March 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The Public Relations Officer told the court of her responsibilities, which included preparing press releases and publishing information.
She told the court that information for publication was provided by then GECOM Chairperson, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh.
Ward recalled receiving images of declarations for the 10 electoral districts on a flash drive. The images were subsequently emailed to Giddings for publication, with then Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield copied on the correspondence.
According to Ward, Giddings later acknowledged receipt and confirmed that the documents had been uploaded. She said she then checked the website to ensure that the task had been completed.
Further, she said that on March 14, 2020, she was instructed to have previously published Form 24s removed and replaced with two new attachments received from Lowenfield’s office.
Ward further told the court that on July 22, 2020, Justice Singh instructed her to have all declarations removed from GECOM’s website.
Against this backdrop, she recalled that she subsequently emailed Giddings requesting the removal, received an acknowledgement that the changes had been made and checked the website.
Two days later, on July 24, Ward said she received another instruction from Justice Singh, this time to have the gazetted declaration of results published on the website.
Ward also recounted how she became involved in a police investigation into the publication of the declarations.
She said that on September 21, 2020, Justice Singh summoned her to her office and informed her that a Criminal Investigation Department officer had contacted her concerning a person who had provided a statement about the publication of the declarations.
Ward said Singh subsequently returned the officer’s call and was told that he preferred not to take information over the telephone. Ward said that Singh then instructed her driver to take her to the police station, where she learnt that she was required to provide a statement.
As she concluded her main testimony, it was during cross-examination, the Public Relations Officer disclosed that she had been carrying out her duties as stated in her job description.
Subsequently, Giddings took the stand and provided evidence concerning both the electronic tabulation of Statements of Poll (SOPs) and the publication of Form 24s.
Giddings said he supervised the tabulation process at the Ashmin’s Building, including the logging, scanning, photocopying and double-entry verification of SOPs.
He said the process began on March 2 and continued until the morning of March 5, when a bomb threat resulted in the evacuation of the building.
Further, he spoke to backing up the server before the building was evacuated.
Giddings also testified that he removed the server from the building and secured it in his personal vehicle before later receiving instructions to return it.
After the tabulation process resumed, Giddings said that former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GECOM, Roxanne Myers entered the room and announced that the process was to be halted, and everyone had to leave.
On the publication of the election results, Giddings said he received 20 Form 24 attachments from Ward on March 7 – two for each of the 10 electoral districts – and uploaded them to GECOM’s website.
He told the court that he was the only person with publishing credentials at the time and that his responsibility was to publish the documents as received.
Giddings said he received another email from Ward on March 14 containing two replacement Form 24s for Electoral District Four, with instructions to replace the originals.
The matter was subsequently adjourned with Giddings expected to return to the witness box this morning to continue his evidence and be subsequently cross-examined.
The trial centres on allegations of fraud linked to the tabulation and declaration of results from the 2020 General and Regional Elections, a process that triggered months of political uncertainty before a final declaration was made five months after polling day.
Among those on trial are former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy Chief Elections Officer Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Carol Smith-Joseph.
Also charged are former GECOM employees Michelle Miller, Sheffern February, Enrique Livan and Denise Babb-Cummings.
The nine defendants collectively face 19 charges, including conspiracy to defraud and misconduct in public office. All have pleaded not guilty and remain on bail.
The prosecution alleges that the accused participated in efforts to inflate votes in favour of the then A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition while reducing votes cast for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).