These elections have shattered many friendships. People have displayed hatred to those that they once embraced and probably shared their bread.
But this was to be expected. Friendships have always been disrupted at election time. What makes this time around more serious and severe is the length of time it has taken for the results to be declared.
In the end, matters have come down to valid votes. Even the Guyana Elections Commission has admitted that invalid votes have been included in the recount. However, everyone seems to be saying regardless of the illegal votes, let the new government be sworn in. After that, you can go to the court by way of elections petition.
I did ask the United States Ambassador about the invalid votes used during the recount. She said to me that the Caricom team scrutinized the recount and concluded that it did not find anything that would have changed the results.
I was surprised. Even in basic accounting, should an auditor examine a mere eighteen per cent of the accounts, that would not be enough to certify the entire account. But everyone other than the government seems to have concluded that some fraud is acceptable.
The bottom line is that the delay in the declaration of the results has caused the international community to accuse the government of stalling the declaration. The truth is otherwise.
When the first declaration of the Region Four was made the Opposition People’s Progressive Party moved to the courts. It was the first time in recent memory that court action against an election surfaced even before a declaration.
Interestingly enough, the High Court ruled that the only valid statements of poll were in the custody of the Guyana Elections Commission. That should have been the end of the matter barring an elections petition. In fact, it was the start of a series of legal battles that continue to this day.
At the root of everything is ethnic insecurity. The PPP ruled for 23 years. There are some grim facts during that tenure. A serving Government Minister is shot and killed in his home just outside the city.
Then there was the killing spree that claimed hundreds of lives, most of them Black youths. Just before it demitted office three men, all of then Black, were shot and killed at Linden during a protest.
In the diplomatic scene, it turned out that not one Black was qualified to serve as an ambassador or a high commissioner. There was bias in selecting students to pursue studies in Cuba. Young blacks who traditionally graduated to the public service suddenly found themselves locked out.
The then national leader suddenly announced that there was an employment freeze in the public sector.
At the same time the size of the army and the police force declined. Again, most of the people who serve in these two institutions are Black.
And of course, people have been threatened for opposing the PPP.
These facts are responsible for the fight to keep the PPP from returning to the seat of government at all cost. Yet these facts mean nothing to the international community. The diplomats are inclined to be focused on what they see as the outcome of the elections dictated by the recount.
Even the Guyana Elections Commission say that the recount included tainted votes. I spoke about this last week.
Yet there must be an end to the election stalemate. We have had no budget for more than a year; contracts are being queried although independent bodies pronounce on these contracts.
Now there is talk that the local situation has been contrived. Venezuela is in the crosshairs.
