Georgetown: The denial of permission by President David Granger for the Carter Center to return to Guyana is a deliberate interference in the operations of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), according to GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj.
“The denial of entry by the COVID-19 task force is another act in a series of deliberate attempts to prevent scrutiny of the electoral process in general, and the recount process in particular …the Guyana Elections Commission has not withdrawn its accreditation of any observer and they remain clothed with the observer status up to the present time,” Gunraj said.
Guyana’s General Elections (Observers) Act states at Section 4(3) that: “The Chairman of the Elections Commission, the Chief Elections Officer and other election officers shall cooperate with the observers and shall comply with any reasonable request made by the observers in the performance of their functions.”
Further, Section 4 (5) points to the status of the Observers: “The person of every observer shall be inviolable and he shall enjoy as well such other privileges and immunities as are afforded diplomatic agents under the Privileges and Immunities (Diplomatic, Consular and International Organisatisons) Act.
The Act further states that “everyone who ….obstructs or interferes with him in the performance of his functions or the exercise of his rights under this Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifteen thousand dollars and imprisonment for eighteen months.”
The denial of entry to the Carter Center observers was communicated to the U.S. Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch in a letter Friday.
In a statement welcoming the start of the recount, President Granger stated: “I have never interfered, intervened or intruded in the work of the Elections Commission; its independence is respected, and I have upheld always the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, which is the supreme law of the land.”
“While stringent objections to live-streaming of the recount process readily serves as an example, the attitude of the Government towards the observers after they began to publicize the naked attempt at derailing the electoral process was patent,” Gunraj stated.
He referred particularly to the threat made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Karen Cummings to revoke the accreditation of the observers because of their statements made when the electoral process was derailed in Region Four by Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
“There was a threat to revoke accreditation of observers made by Karen Cummings just before the Mingo fiasco unfolded and the very pejorative statements made against the other observers, including several heads of Diplomatic Missions,” Gunraj stated.
The Carter Center observers, along with technical advisors of the International Republic Institute, had agreed to comply with whatever COVID-19 guidelines are in place.
For the CARICOM Scrutineers, they were tested in their countries and then allowed to come to Guyana. The same is the case with the oil workers. The Carter Center Observers were following the same process when the U.S. Embassy here wrote for them to get clearance to return to Guyana.
Ambassador Lynch, during the 94.1 FM’s Jumpstart radio show on Friday morning, said in writing again for permission for the Carter Center observers to travel to Guyana, she understood that the President is the final step in the approval process.
The Ambassador said the Carter Center observers were invited by GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh to observe the elections.
“They didn’t get to complete their work because of course the election is still ongoing,” Lynch stated.
She said the Carter Center observers are still accredited and their presence during the national vote recount would lead to a “more robust observation effort.”
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