CGID RESPONDS TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS AND THE OAS

Posted on by
Submitted by Rickford Burke, President, Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

It is unfortunate that, in response to intense solicitation and lobbying from Guyana’s opposition People Progressive Party (PPP) and their lobbyists, the Chairman of the Caribbean Community, Prime Minister of Barbados, Hon. Mia Mottley, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the ABCE Ambassadors in Guyana, are contemptuously interfering in Guyana’s election controversy when this matter is subjucie at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The PPP is the most violently racist, brutally oppressive anti-black political organization is the Western Hemisphere. These foreign actors are interfering in the elections on behalf of the PPP. The results of the national recount of ballots cast in the March 2, 2020 elections show that the PPP has 15,000 more votes than the ruling APNU+AFC coalition. However the PPP’s subset of votes contain between 32,000 and 56,000 fraudulent ballots which were obtain through voter impersonation.

The Guyana Police Force, after an investigation by the Chief Immigration Officer, confirmed the presence of votes which were cast in the names of persons who are on the voters list, no longer reside in Guyana and were not present in Guyana on Election Day. The General Registrar of deaths has also furnished death certificates verifying that votes were cast in the names of dead people.

The Chief Election Officer (CEO) has confirmed in his report to the Election Commission that “In respect of the allegations of voter impersonation, responses from the Chief Immigration Officer and review of the General Registrar’s Office Deceased Reports confirmed that these were of substance.” Hence the thousands of fraudulent ballots that were cast through voter impersonation are not mere allegations for an elections petition. They are proven occurrences. These ballots cannot be counted.

The CEO’s report also states that “The summation of anomalies and instances of voter impersonation identified, clearly does not appear to satisfy the criteria of impartiality, fairness, and compliance with provisions of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) Cap 1:03. Consequently, on the basis of the votes counted and the information furnished from the recount, it cannot be ascertained that the results meet the standard of fair and credible elections.”

This matter was ventilated on June 20, 2020, in the Guyana Court of Appeal, in the Eslyn David v. Chief Elections Officer case. The court ruled on June 22, 2020, that only “valid votes” cast in relation to the March 2, 2020 elections can be counted in accordance with Article 177 (4) of the Guyana constitution and Section 96 of the Representation the People Act. Consequently the CEO has prepared a report of valid votes only, which shows the ruling coalition won the elections. Foreign actors are now attempting to bully GECOM to change the lawful report to give the PPP the victory.

Guyana’s Chief Elections officer does not take instructions from the Chairman of CARICOM; the OAS of Western Ambassadors. The CEO takes instructions from the laws of Guyana; the Elections Commission and the Courts. Guyana is a sovereign State with a functioning, independent judiciary. Guyanese must reject any attempt by Prime Minister Mottley; the OAS and ABCE Ambassadors, to arrogate to themselves the powers of CECOM and Guyanese courts.

These foreign actors are attempting to force GECOM to disregard the ruling of the Guyana Court of Appeal and count fraudulently cast “valid ballots,” instead of “valid votes.” Under the laws of Guyana a valid ballot is a ballot paper which is correctly marked for the party for which the voter intended to vote. If that ballot paper is not correctly marked it is to be rejected as a spoilt ballot. On the other hand, a valid vote is a vote that is lawfully cast in person by an eligible voter whose name appears on the voters list, after that voter has been properly identified by a legitimate form of photo identification as required by law.

Guyanese are not prepared to accept a conflation of with fraudulent ballots with valid votes. We are not prepared to accept unlawful votes, that were cast in the names of dead people and people who live abroad as valid votes. Every Guyanese must resist this attempt by the PPP and international actors, to bully the nation to accept a racist, ethnocratic PPP regime based on fraudulent votes.

Moreover, the previous PPP regime, through death squads and extra judicial killings, murdered over 1400 African Guyanese, with impunity. This genocide was never investigated. There has been no justice. These black lives matter. What is CARICOM and the international community doing to bring about justice for these families?

The very CARICOM, which is speaking in support of the PPP now, was silent then when these African Guyanese young men were killed by the racist PPP regime. The PPP is the most violently racist and brutally oppressive, anti-black political organization is the Western Hemisphere. CGID calls on Guyanese to reject and resist any attempt by CARICOM and international actors to impost a racist PPP regime on our nation – via fraudulent ballots.

The bedrock of any democracy is one man, one vote, and that only legitimately cast, valid votes are counted. Guyana must be no different. CGID therefore calls on CARICOM and the international community to respect the democratic process and the courts of Guyana.

125 thoughts on “CGID RESPONDS TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS AND THE OAS”


  1. Some are saying it serves her right..

    “(CMC): A group based in the United States has expressed disappointment with what it says is Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s “misguided” position on Guyana’s March 2 elections impasse.

    “Without seizing herself of the full set of facts, Prime Minister Mottley, in her capacity as CARICOM (Caribbean Community), chairman, jumped into Guyana’s elections politics, like a bull in a China shop, to support her friend Bharrat Jagdeo, leader of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP),” claimed Rickford Burke, president of the Brooklyn, New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), in an open letter to Mottley and the citizens of CARICOM.

    Burke, an international law consultant, alleged that “at the apparent behest of lobbying from Bharrat Jagdeo, and in coordination with western nations, Prime Minister Mottley viciously attacked Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Col. Keith Lowenfield.

    “His elections results report shows that Guyana’s ruling APNU+AFC coalition won the elections,” he said. “Like Jagdeo, Ms Mottley delivered remarks, penned in Georgetown and riddled with misinformation, which purported that the PPP won the elections.”

    “She recklessly called on the Guyana Elections Commission to declare the PPP the winner, although the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had already issued a restraining order against the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) prohibiting it from declaring the results,” Burke added. “The prime minister is dead wrong. Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer doesn’t work for her. Her blatant disrespect crossed the line.”

    Reply ↓

  2. These 3 articles speak for themselves, the Black majority, the original people of the earth have the right to practice their African spiritual culture, no government or country has the right to victimize or criminalize the indigenous populations on the earth for their ANCESTRAL BELIEFS and PRACTICES as they have done for centuries.

    No indigenous populaton on the earth should be put in a position to defend their right to exist or should any plans be developed by any government or state to exterminate them from the earth in mass genocide, the indigenouis have the right to FIGHT BACK against their own mass murder and against any form of racism because we know that the states will not develop the measures necessary to protect the targeted because of the capitalist mentality embedded for centuries in enabling these crimes FOR PROFIT, so the African descended will have to develop those measures themselves for self preservation. This what your corrupt government dont want you to know,

    ▼Article X.
    Rejection of assimilation
    1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain,
    express, and freely develop their cultural identity
    in all respects, free from any external attempt at
    assimilation.

    States shall not carry out, adopt, support, or favor
    any policy of assimilation of indigenous peoples or of
    destruction of their cultures.

    ▼Article XI.
    Protection against genocide
    Indigenous peoples have the right not to be the object of
    any form of genocide or attempts to exterminate them.

    ▼Article XII.
    Guarantees against racism, racial discrimination,
    xenophobia, and related intolerance
    Indigenous peoples have the right not to be the object
    of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, or related
    intolerance. States shall adopt the preventive and
    corrective measures necessary for the full and effective
    protection of that right.

    Reply ↓

  3. Granger not knocking Mia for comments
    NEW YORK – Guyana President David Granger yesterday declined to criticise his Caribbean Community (CARICOM) colleagues over the disputed March 2 regional and general elections in his country, saying that “it’s premature for anybody to make a declaration.
    “Nobody has won, nobody has lost; I will not criticise Prime Minister (Mia Amor) Mottley,” Granger told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC),
    referring to the Barbados’ Prime Minister, who is also the chair of the 15-member regional integration grouping.
    “I know the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr (Keith) Rowley, the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines (Dr Ralph Gonsalves) made statements. We’re colleagues, we’re friends; they were here [in Georgetown] and they have the best interest of Guyana.”
    ‘Tremendous respect’
    Granger said that he has “tremendous respect” for Mottley, who, along with four regional leaders visited Guyana in March as the country awaited the official results of the elections.
    Last Wednesday, Mottley, in a statement said “many of us have observed with great sadness what has been transpiring in Guyana.
    “It is more than 100 days since the people of Guyana went to the polls. And yet there is no declared result. From the very beginning, we have been clear and said consistently that every vote must count and every vote must be made to count in a fair and transparent way.”
    But she added that, “regrettably, we have seen a level of gamesmanship that has left much to be desired and has definitely not portrayed our Caribbean region in the best light”.
    ‘Premature’ to speak out
    Granger told CMC that it was “premature to speak of the outcome of the process”, pointing out that the process “calls for four parts, including the validity of the votes.
    “Some observers feel it’s just recounting, but it has to be validated, followed by a report. It’s premature for any declaration before the three stages are completed. No declaration has been made. This is 119 days, 17 weeks exactly from the time of participating in the general elections. The sequence is logical – no rules have been broken,” Granger said.
    “I don’t want to advise my (CARICOM) colleagues – all five of them were here. I will just ask that they wait on the chairman [of GECOM] and ask them to have patience. Only the chairman (retired Justice Claudette Singh)
    can make a declaration. She has enormous powers, and I’m satisfied with her ability. I’m confident GECOM will be able to complete its work and make a declaration,” he added.
    (CMC)

    Source: Nation Newspaper

    Reply ↓

  4. well…she gotta have some kinda of a legacy as Caricom Chair on THIS her LAST DAY, otherwise she would have no legacy at all to leave…the Guyana PM is being very gracious..

    Reply ↓

  5. Former Attorney General of Trinidad & Tobago, Mr. John Jeremie, SC., today chastised the Prime Minister of Barbados and incumbent Chairman of CARICOM, Ms. Mia Mottley, for making prejudicial statements and attacks against Guyana’s Chief Elections Officer, although she is fully aware that Guyana elections matter is subjudice at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

    Mr. Jeremie asserted that it is unfortunate that the Prime Minister, who is an Attorney-at-Law, interfered in the matter. Guyana’s Prime Minister, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo, yesterday lambasted Mottley for interfering in the case in an attempt to influence the decision of the court.

    Following Mr. Jeremie’s observation, Chief Justice of the CCJ, Mr. Adrian Saunders, was consequently forced to assure the litigants that the court will not be influenced by statements made outside of the courtroom.

    Reacting to this development, Mr. Rickford Burke, President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), said he supported the concern raised by the former Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General. He observed that Mottley deliberately violated the doctrine of non-intervention in judicial cases, which is a cardinal pillar of the justice system, and slammed the Prime Minister’s comments as “repugnant to the jurisprudence in the region.”

    Firing back at Mottley’s comments on Thursday that she stood by her statements on Guyana’s elections, Burke accused the Barbadian Prime Minister of fracturing CARICOM. He contended that Guyanese don’t care either what Prime Minister of Barbados, has to say about Guyana.

    “Ms. Mottley doesn’t run Guyana, she runs Barbados. We suggest that she focuses on Barbados’ money laundering problems so it can be removed from the European Union blacklist. It is certainly her right, if she so elects, to support a racist, anti-black political party in Guyana who’s government contracted death squads to murder over 1400 African Guyanese young men. But she cannot tell the Guyanese people to accept that racist party’s fraudulent ballots,” Burke stressed.

    The CGID President also asserted that “We will not be lectured to, or insulted, by a small island Prime Minister who is ignorant of the facts, misguided on the law and contemptuous of the ruling of the Guyana Court of Appeal. This is a PPP assault on Guyana’s democracy and the courts of Guyana. No fraudulent votes will be counted. There’s nothing Prime Minister Mottley can do about that to help out her friend BharratJagdeo. Guyana is governed by laws which are enforced by our courts. The Guyana Court of Appeal has spoken. Only Valid Votes can be counted. The PPP will not be rewarded for their voter impersonation schemes.”(Quote)

    Reply ↓

  6. Was the reason the president did not want to identify with the Black Lives Matter campaign because she did not want to upset the Indo-Guyanese community? Was she hiding behind guff about being CARICOM chairman? Is she gambling on oil to rescue the Bajan economy?

    Reply ↓

  9. https://thegrio.com/2020/07/01/delaware-moves-whipping-post-public-square/

    “A whipping post that was in use until the ’50s was finally removed from outside Delaware’s Suffolk county courthouse this week.”

    A lot of people like to play dumb in the Caribbean, years ago i studied in this program, the requirement was to read the US Constitutioin, i noted that it stated unequivocally that Black people were only 3/5th human, but distractions took my mind off that for years, well it turns out that the constitution apparently still states that according to someone versed in law, i was actually stunned that it still remains like that, it explains so many things, just as stunned as i was to learn one of the States still had slavery as legal on their statute books, i spoke about that on here, when they dude went and researched and found that slavery was still legal 150 later because someone “forgot” to ratify the document…and one or two states were trying to see if they could get away with instituting slavery again using grade school children to carry home letters asking parents if they would like to be slaves again or some such shit.., yes they are vile and racist. Texas was all ready to rewrite history telling lies about the slave trade, then the 3 clowns in UK, cousin Boris, Gove and Rassmugg-Reesemoggs were all ready to try a thing too, even though the criminals knew about Windrush and we didn’t until last year…….wish them luck though…so yall can sit ya asses down pretending to be so british and not knowing that all ya are, is colonial bait…

    Ya already know ya leaders are no good sell outs and fancy themselves plantation overseers on their way to being millionaire slave masters or so they are telling themselves..so continue pretending to be dumb while knowing what Mia just did and that Jagdeo is accused of extra-judicial killings of 1400 young Black Guyanese men..

    Reply ↓

  10. CGID PRESS RELEASE
    July 2, 2020
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    CGID CALLS FOR GUYANA TO WITHDRAW FROM THE CCJ AND CARICOM

    The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) believes that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), of which Guyana is a founding member, has become corroded and largely anti-Guyanese. Many of the Heads of Government of the community are disrespectful to Guyana, Guyanese public officials and State institutions. They have also consistently, openly treated Guyanese with disdain.

    CARICOM Heads of government lack vision to enhance further integration. The grouping has failed to accomplish most of the goals it set for itself over forty-seven years ago. The CARICOM single market and economy has failed. Nationals are still required to present passports for intra-regional travel and apply for work-permits for employment in other territories. Only four out of fifteen countries that comprise CARICOM have ratified the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their apex court for criminal and civil appeals. Trinidad & Tobago, where the CCJ is based, does not subscribe to the court. This is an embarrassment and insult to the people of the region.

    CGID has carefully studied the behavior of the judges at the CCJ. They demonstrate a contemptuous, extreme bias against Guyana’s ruling APNU+AFC coalition. On each occasion where matters in which the coalition is a party are presented to the court, the court over reaches and amends the Guyana constitution, via judicial fiat, to demonstrate its hostility towards the coalition against which Chief Justice Adrian Saunders in particular appears to be inherently biased. Guyanese will no longer put up with this contempt.

    CGID is appalled that although the Guyana constitution makes it pellucidly clear that the Guyana Court of Appeal (COA) shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to questions about the qualification of a person to be elected President, or the interpretation of the constitution, and that the decision of the COA is final, the CCJ on July 1, 2020 conducted extensive hearing on this question in violation of the constitution. This provision exists because the framers of the constitution obviously wanted to retain questions about the election of the President of Guyana exclusively in the Court of Appeal and not in any court that includes non-Guyanese citizens.

    Article 177(4) of the Guyana constitution states that “The Guyana Court of Appeal shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question as to the validity of an election of a President in so far as the question depends on the qualification of a person for election, or the interpretation; and the decision of the Court under this paragraph shall be final.” Moreover, the constitution preserved the exclusivity of this idiosyncratic provision in Article 177(4) when it was amended to bring the CCJ Act into force. Article 4 (3) of the CCJ Act states pellucidly that “Nothing in this act shall confer jurisdiction on the court to hear matters in relation to any decision of the Court of Appeal which at the time of entry into force of this Act was declared to be final by any law.”

    The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) made an application to the CCJ to be granted leave to appeal the June 23, 2020 decision of the Guyana Court of Appeal which ordered the Elections Commission (GECOM) to only court valid votes cast in the March 2, 2020 elections results. On July 1, the CCJ conducted an extensive hearing that exceeded an inquiry to determine the question of jurisdiction. It allowed the PPP to present arguments on the merits of the Court of Appeal decision. The judges actually accepted arguments from the PPP, which sounded like an election petition. This has angered a majority of Guyanese in and out of Guyana. Some Judges even misguidedly speculated about the alleged actions of the Chief Elections Officer in the tabulation of the elections results, when such a matter was not before the court. This unfortunate situation is a politicization of the court and has eroded confidence in its ability to be fair and impartial. A similar bias was seen in the no confidence motion case in 2019.

    In view of the aforementioned provisions in Article 177(4) and the CCJ Act Section 4(3), the very hearing which the CCJ conducted on July 1, 2020 appears to be repugnant to the Guyana constitution and an assault on Guyana’s sovereignty. CGID denounces this continuous, blatant overreach and the contempt some of the judges of the CCJ demonstrate towards some Guyanese. If the CCJ tries to overturn the Guyana constitution its decision must be rejected and the court should be disintegrated. No citizen of the region must countenance no-national judges overturning laws governing who must be elected to govern their country. These are the fears that justify why only four CARICOM countries have ratified the CCJ’s to be their court of appeal. We therefore believe that Guyana should withdraw from the CCJ agreement.

    Furthermore, CGID believes firmly that CARICOM has failed the people of the Caribbean miserably. CARICOM has served no useful purpose to Guyana and Guyanese over its 47 year history. It functions more as a talk-shop and private club for elitist bureaucrats and their political allies. We therefore call on the government of Guyana to consider withdrawing from CARICOM. Guyanese don’t want to be part of this failed geo-political travesty any longer.

    Rickford Burke

    President

    Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)

    Reply ↓

  11. Shame on Mia, what a disgraceful display that only brought embarrassment to Barbados and Caricom.

    “Guyana News Agency
    ·
    At last, Jagdeo agrees with President Granger

    During his online public briefing yesterday, PPP/C Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, stated that the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) “is the only body that can make the decision and declaration of the results”. That position mirrors what President Granger has repeatedly said since the conclusion of the March 2 elections, when the PPP/C ‘declared’ itself the winner, and a few foreign diplomats and local organisations blindly accepted the PPP/C declaration. Had Jagdeo accepted what Granger had been saying all along, then it is possible that the elections crisis would have ended weeks ago. But, as they say, better late than never. Perhaps Jagdeo will now order the removal of those billboards declaring Irfan Ali the President-elect of Guyana.

    A remaining difference of opinion between the two leaders is whether the GECOM declaration should include all votes, or only valid votes. The question seems elementary, yet here we are, months after the elections, having to ask the country’s highest court to decide that simple question. The Guyana Court of Appeal not surprisingly ruled that the word “votes” is intended to mean “valid votes”. Despite that ruling, Jagdeo and the PPP/C continue to pressure the international community to support its call that all votes, including those of people who died before elections day must be counted. It seems that Jagdeo is arguing that the dearly departed have the right to elect their leaders. Senator Marco Rubio, residing in Florida, seems to agree as he and a handful of others called on GECOM to count those dead people votes. In a normal world, ballots cast by dead people are not valid, and cannot be counted. Plain and simple!

    Then we have those who seek to use the CARICOM report to justify the argument that all votes, including invalid ones must be used to declare the results. The author of the CARICOM report was careful to note that the election was “reasonably credible”. Everyone knows that an election can be credible or not credible. Just like a woman can be pregnant or not pregnant. She cannot be ‘reasonably pregnant’. The only explanation for the curious choice of words in the CARICOM report is that the author did not want CARICOM to be dragged deeper into Guyana’s internal conflict. The report was therefore written to give both parties a win, and to allow CARICOM to take a non-committal / neutral position. The report was not intended to be used as a basis for the declaration of the results, but as a guide for the Chief Elections Officer as he decides how to tabulate the votes.

    The CARICOM report is indeed very instructional. Even though the CARICOM scrutineers observed less than 20 per cent of the boxes, they were able to determine that the integrity of the electoral system was compromised. At that point, they may have applied the ‘cockroach rule’ in deciding that they did not need to observe more boxes. The ‘cockroach rule’ was articulated during the OJ Simpson trial when a forensic scientist noted that “if you find a cockroach in your soup, you do not try to see how many cockroaches there are; you simply conclude that the soup is no good”. The Chief Elections Officer attempted to take that route in presenting his first report that the credibility of the elections could not be ascertained. The GECOM Chairman reportedly rejected that report. The Judicial branch was then called upon to intervene, and now that the Court of Appeal ruling instructed that only valid votes be counted, Keith Lowenfield must comply. To do otherwise would place him in contempt.

    Those valid votes show that David Granger has won reelection. The Irfan Ali victory billboards must therefore be taken down! Jagdeo and the PPP/C have the option to file an election petition if they disagree with Lowenfield’s report – but they should first take down those billboards and accept that their propaganda priming was unsuccessful.

    Respectfully”

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment, join the discussion.