3 years after attempts to derail 2020 elections: AG laments “unsatisfactory” progress of electoral fraud cases
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Attorney General & Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall SC
It has been three years since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government was finally sworn into office following a five-month political impasse that saw efforts to derail the results of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
In June 2021, several of the key players who were allegedly behind those blatant attempts to steal the elections were slapped with fraud charges. However, more than two years later, those cases continue to languish in the Magistrates’ Courts.
During his weekly programme, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall expressed his dissatisfaction with the progress of the electoral fraud cases in the Magistrates’ Courts.
Charged: Former Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers
“Some 28 charges have been instituted and they are all pending in the Magistrates’ Courts of Georgetown. A special prosecutor has been appointed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and that Prosecutor has a team of lawyers. The progress with those cases has been unsatisfactory to say the least and I can relate to [the public’s frustration in respect to the progress or lack of progress being made with these cases,” Nandlall stated.
Stemming from the March 2, 2020 elections, some 32 electoral fraud cases have been filed in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts against several political activists, including APNU/AFC’s Volda Lawrence, and GECOM officials, including former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; his then Deputy, Roxanne Myers and former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
Charged: Former Region 4
RO Clairmont Mingo
Several GECOM staffers were also charged and placed before the courts. Most of these charges were filed in late 2020 and early 2021.
The prosecution’s case is being led by Queen’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani.
According to the Attorney General, he has requested the special prosecutor, who is currently out of the country, to update the public on these cases upon his return. Ramdhani, QC, has also been instructed to compile a progress report to be submitted to the DPP.
“These are cases of national importance. They touch and concern issues of public importance, vital and crucial to law and order in this country, and to the democratic architecture of our nation. And you the people were following these events and you played a significant role in ensuring that the rule of law was maintained, that the will of the people prevail and that democracy was preserved and protected. And you are entitled, therefore, to an update because all of you – many of you called for these charges. You were outraged, and rightfully so, by what was done. And the charges, to the credit of the Police, were instituted and placed before the magistracy. And that is where they’ve been. We’re now celebrating three years and they have not advanced in the manner that they should have,” the Attorney General pointed out.
Charged: Former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield
Only back in February of this year, AG Nandlall had written the DPP, Shalimar Ali-Hack, for an update on the electoral fraud cases after expressing his concerns over the long delays. This had followed similar concerns highlighted in August 2022.
The Legal Affairs Minister had assured earlier this year that while the Government was insulated from the court process, it would not sit idly by and allow the charges to “just fall away”.
“We are equally and as an important stakeholder interested in the outcome of these charges… You are entitled to that information and it will come from the DPP, because the DPP is responsible for the prosecution of these offences,” the AG had noted.
Lowenfield is facing three counts of forgery and three counts of misconduct in public office, while Mingo and Myers are facing separate charges for misconduct in public office.
Lowenfield’s election report claimed that the APNU/AFC coalition garnered 171,825 votes while the PPP/C gained 166,343 votes.
How he arrived at these figures is still not known, since the certified results from the recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) pellucidly showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes while the coalition garnered 217,920.
The recount exercise also proved that Mingo had heavily inflated the figures in Region Four—Guyana’s largest voting district, in favour of the then caretaker APNU/AFC regime.
In August 2021, GECOM voted to terminate Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo.
The firing of these officials was met with much satisfaction by various stakeholders including the Government, which hailed it as a step in the right direction to restoring public confidence in GECOM. (G8)
