THE 2020 electoral fraud trial resumed on Monday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty.
When the matter was called on Monday morning, Bebi Anieshaw Mohamed, who in 2020 was a tabulation officer for the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), took the stand to present evidence as part of the main trial.
Mohamed, during her evidence in chief, told the court of discrepancies that she had observed as part of the tabulation process on March 4, 2020.
She spoke of a tabulation process which was being undertaken, during which one of the defendants, Enrique Livan, began calling numbers from a paper and not a Statement of Poll, which she said did not match statements of poll she had in her possession.
During this process, Mohamed told the court that she, along with others, objected every time he called numbers that did not correlate to what she had in her possession; these objections were ignored, and the process continued.
“That process went on even though objections were made of the inaccuracies because not only did I possess a copy of the PPP/C’s copy [of the] statement of poll, but other parties present possessed their copies as well, and they made objections as well,” she said.
This, she said, continued through some five ballot boxes, and after objections were continuously raised, she noted that Livan reported that he was tired. Subsequently, the tabulation officer noted that Livan left the tabulation room with a flash drive.
After some time had passed and interventions were made, she noted that she discovered that Livan was still in the Ashmin Building and, as such, moved towards the location she was told that he was at.
“Mr Livan was straight ahead, and he was working on an Acer laptop, and the flash drive was plugged in. The minute the door opened, he closed the laptop, and he rested his head on the desk,” she said.
After some commotion and police officers being called in, Mohamed stated that the tabulation process was discontinued that night.
She recounted that the following day, the tabulation process never continued as Mr Clairmont Mingo entered the room with a folder in his hand and began reading from a legal-size paper.
“When he began reading, I did not clearly hear what he was saying because everyone, including myself, began objecting,” she said.
After this had occurred and Mingo left the building, Mohamed said that she later learned that a declaration was announced and published on the Guyana Elections Commission website, which showed that the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had won district four by over 19,000 votes.
Mohamed further testified to subsequently being a tabulation agent during the recount process, which followed after several legal challenges in the country’s court system. She is expected to continue her testimony and later be cross-examined by the defence.
The trial is expected to continue today. The trial concerns allegations of electoral fraud arising from the disputed General and Regional Elections held on March 2, 2020.
Those facing charges include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) member, Carol Smith-Joseph.
Also on trial are former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
Collectively, the defendants face 19 charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud to misconduct in public office.
As a result of the charges arising from the same set of circumstances, the matters have been consolidated. Each defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges and secured their release by posting significant cash bail.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, argued that each defendant played a “critical role” in the deliberate effort to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC and reduce votes for the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
In the weeks that followed the contentious March 2, 2020, vote, Guyana’s judiciary was inundated with multiple applications and appeals filed by various political actors over the electoral process.
The saga lasted five months before a national recount, led by GECOM and a delegation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), confirmed the PPP/C’s victory and ultimately led to the swearing-in of President, Dr Irfaan Ali on August 2, 2020.
The recount confirmed that the PPP/C had won the elections with 233,336 votes against the APNU+AFC coalition 217,920.
The initial election results, announced by former CEO Lowenfield, had claimed an APNU+AFC victory.
The APNU+AFC coalition had received 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C received 166,343 votes, according to Lowenfield’s election report.
Following the PPP/C’s return to office in August 2020, criminal charges were filed against the defendants.
GECOM made the decision to terminate the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021, after the allegations of fraud came to light.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections have found that there was collusion and collaboration between senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.