Dear Editor,
We all breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the rulings of the High Court on March 31, 2020 with regards to the appeal brought by Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Justice Holder’s ruling on the recount case. These rulings paved the way for the full recount to arrive at credible and transparent results of the elections.
However, being the cynic l have become with regards to everything the APNU+AFC Coalition does, after the High Court decision yesterday my mind immediately conjured up an image of a team of lawyers (you all know who they are) with certain APNU+AFC leaders (you also know who they are) holed up in some backroom plotting and planning on how to further delay the recount by yet another sojourn to the courts.
Well yesterday the lawyers for the APNU+AFC candidate, Ms. Moore have filed an appeal of the High Court’s ruling in the Court of Appeal. Is anyone surprised? Not really. The majority of the people know that the APNU+AFC Coalition intends to delay, frustrate and prevent a recount of the ballots of the Guyanese people. After all they have been hard at this since they were defeated on December 21, 2018 No Confidence Vote.
But the approach to the court is not all in their strategy to prevent the recount in accordance with the Chief Justice orders of March 11th and 13th and the High Court ruling of March 31, 2020. .
The PPP’s press release on April 1st exposed the less public strategy “ the APNU+AFC in its attempts to steal political power has now launched a whisper campaign… Members and supporters are being asked to sign petitions and pen letters to the editor, demanding that Mr. David Granger be sworn in on the basis of the fraudulent results, particularly for District Four.” These large gatherings of party activists (despite COVID-19) are being held in different parts of the country to move this strategy forward as they try to prepare the ground for Mr. Granger’s swearing in.
Now comes the “cherry on the cake“ of this strategy— Use COVID-19 to invoke a lockdown of the whole country. For how long who knows? But in the interim, there will be no recount of the votes.
Don’t be surprised if Granger does an address to the nation in next day or two invoking a lockdown of the whole country.
Of course there are cases of COVID-19 and we, as a nation, are seeing the numbers exponentially increase, and, there is no doubt that this will continue over the next few months with the loss of many lives.
However, the Ministry of Public Health had two months warning from the WHO to start procuring and stockpiling tests kits, personal protective equipment and plan how to manage a pandemic, the loss of life, the impact on the people’s lives and especially the poor and vulnerable, and the economy. It is only in last few days that there are public updates. No major policy initiatives have been taken, a miniscule amount of testing is being done although there are some supplies, very limited protective supplies for the health workers who are at risk, not just at PHG but across all the public health facilities in the country, no preparation of a COVID-19 hospital, no measures to bring relief for people who cannot work, especially street and market vendors, self-employed etc., who live from week to week.
So predictably the government does what it knows best, it is choosing a militaristic type solution as its first response rather than go through stages of responses – stay at home/isolation, partial lockdown, and, when and if necessary, a full lockdown.
The timing of this appears all too coincidental.
l must ask your readers to forgive me for being the cynic that l have become.
l would be happy if the APNU+AFC Coalition proved me wrong —- that is comply with the Chief Justice’s orders of March 11th and March 31st , as well as the High Court ruling of March 31, 2020 and proceed with the recount , one that is transparent and in accordance with the constitution and laws, and accept the results peacefully — but I doubt it!
Yours faithfully,
Gail Teixeira
