When the PNC-led APNU/AFC government was forced to agree to a recount during their disgraceful attempt to thief the March 2020 elections, they denied entry to international observers, including the world-renowned Carter Center, to observe the recount. It was a despicable act, and the AFC was part of the Government that was responsible for this reprehensible act. They have never apologized for this.
The story of the attempted rigging of the March 2020 elections was not merely the events of the five-month-long efforts by the PNC-led APNU/AFC to alter the results of the elections. The rigging process started long before the actual elections. One of the shameful actions took place soon after the successful No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the Government in December 2018. In the clumsy effort to reverse the results of that NCM, the PNC-led APNU/AFC claimed that 33 was not the majority of 65.
The mathematics genius in this case was Nigel Hughes, now the leader of the AFC. All the participants in that sordid affair, including the PNC, the AFC, the WPA, and all the other one-man political parties that were part of the APNU/AFC coalition, disgraced Guyana by putting us on a world stage and making us appear as if a whole nation was mathematically challenged. We needed the Caribbean Court of Justice to tell us that 33 is the majority of 65, no matter how bravely Moses Nagamootoo tried to justify the travesty with his half-bottle and quarter-bottle rum story.
But even before that, in June 2018, David Granger violated the constitution and arbitrarily appointed 81-year -old James Patterson as GECOM Chair. The CCJ had to intervene and stop the deliberate violation of the constitution. David Granger had not gone rogue and acted alone; he was part of a machinery that included the AFC. Indeed, several leaders of the AFC publicly tried to justify the appointment of James Patterson. Would Raphael Trotman be able to deny this fact? Does Nigel Hughes not know this story?
It is reprehensible that Nigel Hughes, the leader of the AFC, sees no reason why his party needs to apologize for its action in the shameful, disgraceful attempt to rig the results of the March 2020 elections. Bruce Golding, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, who headed the Organization of American States’ (OAS’) Observer Team said he never saw a more transparent attempt to alter the results of an election. Government leaders at the time, like Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman, Cathy Hughes, David Patterson, Sherod Duncan, all played roles in the rigging attempt. Yet, Nigel Hughes sees nothing that the AFC did that deserves an apology.
Many of the AFC leaders insisted that APNU/AFC’s Statements of Poll were proof of them winning the elections. Many of them at the time claimed they had seen the SOPs. But up to today, they have not shown anyone their copies of the SOPs. One of them, Cathy Hughes, now admits in court that she did not see the SOPs. Why has the PNC-led APNU/AFC hidden their SOPs like Fort Knox hides gold bars? That AFC leaders insisted initially that they won the elections based on their copies of the SOPs, when in fact they were lying because they either never saw their copies of the SOPs or they saw them and lied about the results, is reprehensible and a betrayal of the Guyanese people, especially their own supporters. Should the AFC not apologize for this dishonesty?
As the rigging strategy began to emerge soon after the March 2, 2020 elections, two AFC leaders, Khemraj Ramjattan and Cathy Hughes, held a press conference and informed the nation that they caught in the country four Russians who came to Guyana to use sophisticated technology to hack the elections results. That no one can hack a paper-based electoral system did not matter in their story-telling. They claimed that three of the Russians were caught and deported, and that one of them managed to escape with the equipment. More recently, Ramjattan dug in his heels in the lie by insisting the men were caught “talking” Russian with Bharrat Jagdeo. This was an insult to the intelligence of the Guyanese people. Their own supporters laughed at the ridiculous story. Is it not high time that the AFC apologize to the Guyanese people?
When Keith Lowenfield – who was then chief elections officer, but is now before the courts for conspiracy to defraud the Guyanese people their votes – tried to disenfranchise the Guyanese people their constitutional right by deciding to discard their votes in the tallying of results, where were the AFC? They have no reason now to apologize for allowing this travesty?
Lowenfield was supported in this crime by the PNC/AFC GECOM representatives. Seriously, is Nigel Hughes not aware why the AFC need to apologize?
When Misenga Jones was recruited to ask the court to have the recount figures discarded and Mingo’s original false declaration for Region 4 used for the preparation of Lowenfield’s report, where was the AFC? Did they not know how and why Jones was recruited to add to the trauma the Guyanese people were being forced to endure? Is Hughes still not aware why the AFC must apologize?
APNU/AFC used COVID-19 as an excuse to delay the recount, when they insisted the Convention Center had to be disinfected. This is just a short list of the atrocities the AFC need to apologize for. It is sheer dishonesty for Hughes to insist there is nothing to apologize for.