Describing the events following the March 2, 2020 elections as a “ruckus”, former Deputy Commissioner of Police, Maxine Graham yesterday recounted the events leading to the sacking of the Region Four Commander.
Graham, who was the liasion officer with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said she was not operating under any “specific instructions” during the execution of her duties.
As such, she said she was not part of any effort to clear the Region Four Command Centre which was housed at the Ashmins building on High and Hadfield streets on March 5, 2020 before District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo had made an illegal declaration of the results using doctored figures.
Graham testified under oath when she appeared before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) after being summoned.
Graham told the Commission which is being chaired by retired Justice, Stanley John that on March 5, 2020 she was in contact with the then Police Commander of Region Four, Edgar Thomas and had spoken to him on about three occasions throughout the day.
On the first occasion, she said Thomas contacted her to inform her that there was a bomb scare at the Ashmins building. “….Between 8 and 9 o’clock the morning was when he called me and at that time he said he was heading to GECOM building at Ashmins because he received information that there was a bomb scare,” she said.
Asked what action she took, if any, Graham told Justice John “I did not do anything at that time because he said he was heading there with the bomb team and that he would feed me back”.
According to Graham, Thomas did subseqently contact her and said “there is a number of persons in the building and that the bomb team cannot get to do its work and they left”.
While she was not present on the ground, Graham explained to the Commission that she was monitoring what was happening at Ashmins building through a radio set which was given to the police. The system, she said includes a built-in camera. “So we could have seen from our office what was happening at Ashmins building and around Georgetown because (of) the system that was initiated by the Government of Guyana…After that was installed they gave us (police) sets. So we had the sets, so I could have seen from my office, Ashmins building,” Graham explained.
At about 10 am on March 5, Graham recalled that she had another conversation with Thomas. “I indicated to him that I am seeing a lot of traffic in and around the building and he should head down there, if he is not there,” she said.
It was at this point, she said she realised Thomas was not present at the location when he indicated to her that he has “systems in place” and sufficent ranks were on the ground.
At around mid-day the same day, Graham further related that she tried to contact Thomas but calls to his phone went unaswered. Immediately after, she said she informed the then Commissioner of Police Leslie James of this. “He (James) told me okay he will make contact with Mr Thomas,” she said.
Graham added that as the time passed, she was performing other duties and had waited “a while” when she realised James had not called her. “So my assumption was that maybe they were communciating. But I still see coming onto two in the afternoon, the crowd was still there and I see people start to move from the first floor to go to the second floor,” Graham said.
Graham did not present a statement to the CoI. When she took the stand yesterday, she had a notepad in her possession which she constantly referred to before responding to questions asked of her. This caused Senior Counsel, Sophia Chote who is leading evidence in the inquiry to enquire what was it she was referring to and Graham explained that the notepad contained notes which she compiled of some of the events which took place during the 2020 elections.
Relieved
On March 5th, Thomas was relieved of his command as the head of Region Four (A) after he reportedly refused to remove several persons, including GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj, and clear the premises in the wake of a bomb threat.
The instruction was reportedly given to Thomas by Senior Superintendent Phillip Azore, a rank junior to him. Azore was the then deputy commander of Region Four.
Later on March 5th, Graham further related that she tried calling Thomas “repeatedly” and did not get any answer. She said she then called the Commander’s landline. “And when I called the landline he answered….I told him, ‘Assistant Commissioner there is a situation at the GECOM building at Ashmins. I am calling you on your cell phone and you are not answering and suprisingly you are in your office’. He said his set his charging. Even if the set is charging I am calling you on your phone but you are not answering me. I said you are to head to Ashmins now,” Graham testified.
Again, she said Thomas told her he has systems in place. “I said you cannot have systems in place with what I am seeing happening and look I am seeing on the camera Senior Superintendent Azore and ranks are in a tussle with the people there and you said that you have systems in place,” she added.
At this time, Graham said Azore was asking for “back up”. She said she asked Thomas to go to the Ashmins building immediately but without responding he hung up.
Thereafter, Graham told the CoI that she informed James of the development with Thomas and James told her that he, too, couldn’t get Thomas.
As such, Graham said James told her that he would have to relieve Thomas of his duties and he would have to hand over to Azore. Graham said James asked her to inform Thomas of his decision.
At around 19.00hrs, Graham recalled that she called Thomas and he answered. He was at Ashmins building. “I said I am just calling to you to inform you that Commissioner instructed me to inform you that you will be relieved of your duties and you have to hand over to Senior Superintendent Azore,” she told the inquiry.
Graham said Thomas hung up the phone. “After I told him what I told him, he did not respond to me …” she said.
Former Chancellor of the Judiciary, retired Justice Carl Singh asked Graham at this point if she gave any instructions to Azore. However, she responded in the negative and noted that James did not ask her to. “…If he (James) had instructed me I would have done it,” Graham told Justice Singh.
Clear
As the liasion officer with GECOM, Graham told Justice Singh she was in contact with former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; deputy Chief Election Officer, Roxanne Myers; GECOM Information Technology Manager, Aneil Giddings and GECOM Chief Security Officer Ronald Stewart.
Thomas in his testimony had told the CoI that he was relieved of his Command because he refused to comply with instructions which were coming from Myers, who appeared to have the support of his superiors which would have included Graham.
He had said attempts were made to clear the building and Myers engaged the police in clearing the building and subsequently telephoned Graham, to relate that he was not complying with her instruction to get people out of the building.
But in response to a question from Justice John, Graham yesterday told the CoI that she did not communciate with Myers on March 5, 2020.
“I did not have any communicaiton with Miss Myers on the 5th of March,” she said.
Justice John then asked her “you would not take instructions from her (Myers)?” and she repsonded in the negative. He further asked Graham whether Myers can make suggestions to her. “Yes she can but then I would have to take the suggestion to the Commissioner and then he would have to make a decision,” Graham responded.
In a follow up to this, Justice Singh asked Graham whether at any point during her interaction with any of the GECOM officals they requested police assistance in clearing the building. Briefly, she responded “no, sir”.
On the same day, ranks from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) were deployed to the Ashmins building.
But Graham told Justice John who had enquired about the TSU presence that while she saw them entering the building via the camera she did not enquire about their presence.
In fact, she said it wasn’t until the following day when James had a meeting that he announced that he took the decision to deploy the TSU. He did not provide a reason, Graham said.
On Wednesday, James had told the CoI that after mayhem erupted at the Ashmins building, he deployed additional security to the location. However, he added that at no point did he instruct the ranks to clear the building but rather to secure it.
Ruckus
Asked to describe what she saw on the evening of March 5th, Graham described the scene as a “ruckus”.
“It was like a ruckus. I don’t want to use other terms but for me it was just persons just tumbling on each other..It was like a ruckus there for me” she told Justice John.
To establish what exactly she saw, Justice John asked Graham a series of questions which included whether she saw equipment being damaged and chairs being hurled.
“I saw movements. People fisting. People want to move……I saw pulling and tugging,” she said
As a follow up, Justice Godfrey Smith also asked specifically whether police officers were physically assaulted during this period. “…..Police officers were standing there like a shield and persons wanted to get there to the floor…So they actually like push…like fist them off to get where they wanted to go,” Graham explained.
Tension rose in the room where the inquiry is being held as Graham’s testimony wound down and Chote took the floor to question her.
The majority of what was asked by Chote reminded Graham of the evidence that is before the Commission. “That is not true” was the response given by Graham to most of Chote’s questions.
Calm returned when Justice John intervened and reminded Graham that there was no need for an argument. Graham agreed and told Justice John “communication is a two-way street”.
As it relates to the “ruckus”, Chote asked Graham whether she would identify the persons that were in that ruckus. She said “various” persons but she won’t be able to since she cannot remember.
Public hearings into the CoI continue this morning with more persons being summoned to give evidence.
