Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Information Technology (IT) manager Aneal Giddings has said although he tried to safeguard election materials, including Statement of Polls (SOPs) from the March 2, 2020 elections, then Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers accused him of breaching emergency protocols.
“She (Myers) asked me ‘Aneal are you doing something unlawful with the SOPs?’ And I told her I was simply analysing them so they can be sent to her office,” Giddings disclosed on Thursday when he appeared before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the 2020 elections.
Giddings is the ninth witness to appear before the inquiry, which has been set up to inquire into and report upon the relevant circumstances and events leading up to, and the procedures following, the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections.
The inquiry is being chaired by retired Justice, Stanley John.
Like other witnesses, Giddings told the CoI of the events which took place during the post-voting process, including attempts to clear the GECOM Command Centre that was housed at Ashmins building on High and Hadfield Street, George-town before Region Four Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo declared the results using doctored figures.
During his affirmed testimony, Giddings told the CoI about the events that took place on March 5, 2020, when Myers and others tried to clear the Ashmins building based on a reported bomb threat.
He recalled that around 10.55am, he spoke to the then Commander of Region Four, Edgar Thomas, who informed him that there was a bomb scare. As a result, Giddings said he was advised to evacuate along with his staff. “I immediately instructed all of my staff to evacuate [the building],” he said.
The same morning, he said, he had received a call from Myers. “She called to enquire whether I have processed a back-up of the data and whether said back up could be stored on a flash drive,” Giddings said.
He said he responded in the positive and Myers asked for the flash drive to be handed over to her. Since she was his superior, Giddings said he complied with the request. He said Myers collected the flash drive and never returned it. “She simply collected that drive and she left,” Giddings said.
For security reasons, Giddings told the CoI that he decided later that same day to “power off” and “remove” the server from the facility. The protocol, he said, is contained in the GECOM’s IT division disaster recovery plan.
However, he said Myers told him to “leave” the server and evacuate. “She said that I should not proceed and that I should leave the server in its place and evacuate the building,” Giddings recalled.
Nonetheless, he said he removed the server. “She witnessed me actually walking out with it”. But, he said Myers was adamant and continued to instruct him to “leave it! Leave it!”.
However, Giddings said he removed the server and other equipment which he secured in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Ashmins building, where there was security and surveilance cameras.
About half an hour after, Giddings recalled receiving a call from Myers who instructed that he return the server and power it back on.
On his return, he said he asked Myers whether the building was cleared of the threat. “She repeated the instruction and then the call ended,” he said.
Shortly after, Giddings told the CoI that he observed persons re-entering the building. However, he said he instructed his staff to remain in position at the muster point while he re-entered the facility to en-quire whether it was cleared of the threat.
As he was making his way to the tabulation centre, Giddings said he saw Myers, who told him “return the server”. He said he asked her if the building was clear and she didn’t respond. “As a matter of fact, she walked away,” he said.
Giddings told the inquiry that he then sought the guidance of GECOM Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh. “She did indicate to me that I should return to the building with the server and my staff,” Giddings said.
As a result, he complied.
Thereafter, Giddings related that preparation was being made for the resumption of the tabulation process but again Myers entered the tabulation centre and asked for the staff’s attention. “Where she announced that due to a breach of procedures the process…the server was removed from the facility and the process would therefore be halted,” Giddings said.
He added that Myers then advised everyone to leave the tabulation centre.
“Something unlawful”
While the staff complied, Giddings said he did not. In fact, he said he and his deputy stayed behind and “organised, categorised and secured” SOPs which at this time were still incomplete.
“After I would have observed the state of the centre, we would have had statements of poll on the floor in process and I don’t think that I could have simply walked out knowing that those documents were signed for by staff under my command and were not signed out to where it was intended to go…These are statements of poll and data from statements of poll and they were of national importance, critical importance,” Giddings told Senior Counsel Sophia Chote, who is leading evidence in the inquiry.
Upon realising that at this point the server had to remain at the facility, Giddings said he placed masking tape around the server in the event that anyone tried to tamper with it.
“…I made marks that extended from beyond the tape onto the server and this [was] in an effort [so that] if anyone try to tamper or remove any hardware from within that server or even power it on, it would be difficult for them to realign those marks,” Giddings explained.
Before he left, Giddings said he took photographs of the taping process.
While doing this, he said the database administrator received a call and told him that Myers wanted to speak to him. “She (Myers) asked me ‘Aneal are you doing something unlawful with the SOPs,’” Giddings recalled.
He said he responded in the negative and told Myers that he was “simply” assembling them so that he could have them sent to her office.
“She responded very aggressively in shouting ‘no, no, no, no. You are to leave everything there and leave the centre and that the chief accountant will come and lock up the facility’ and the call ended after that,” he said.
At that time, Giddings said he was almost finished “organising and securing everything,” so he completed it and left.
Giddings told the CoI that he did not return to the Ashmins building until March 23, 2020. Upon doing so, he said he discovered several items were missing.
He said he uplifted what was still there and he left again. He wrote to then Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and informed him of this. However, he never received any feedback.
