13th of July, 2020. Georgetown, Guyana, South America
The Permanent Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) Mr. Luis Almagro, has, last Saturday, 11th of June, 2020 written to the Chair of the Permanent Council, Ambassador Luis Fernando Cordero Montoya, to request a meeting to address the deteriorating political situation in Guyana, South America.
The letter reads:
His Excellency
Ambassador Luis Fernando Cordero Montoya,
Chair of the Permanent Council
Permanent Representative of Honduras to the Organization of American States
Washington, D.C.
Excellency:
I have the honor of addressing Your Excellency to request your support in calling a meeting of the Permanent Council to deal with the situation of the electoral process in Guyana.
Awaiting myself of this opportunity to reassure you of my highest consideration.
I remain,
Luis Almagro
General Secretary.
This move comes on the heels of the Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, for the second time refusing to follow instructions from the GECOM Chair to prepare his report based on the CARICOM certified recount results. The CEO has instead on two occasions presented two different reports based on fictitious figures. On the last occasion, the CEO, Mr. Lowenfield, ignored the recount results and used the original count and tabulation of the ten regions to prepare his report. However, the tabulation of Region 4 votes in the original count had been deemed fraudulent which is what led to the 1 month + recount.
The GECOM chair has once again scrapped the report of the Chief Elections Officer and ordered him for the 3rd consecutive time to prepare his report based on the recount results by 2 PM on Tuesday, 14th of July, 2020. It was agreed that if the CEO refuses to adhere to the directive and fails to prepare his report as instructed then the Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Ms. Roxanne Myers, will use the recount data to prepare the report and submit to the Guyana Elections Commission.
The OAS is a 36-member military alliance and Peace Keeping Force of which Guyana is a member. The OAS has already recognized Dr. Irfaan Ali as the legitimate president of Guyana and has urged the APNU/AFC to clear the way for the transition of the new PPP/C government.
The OAS has urged all political actors time and time again to respect the results of the CARICOM certified recount results. In this regards, the OAS has called for the firing of the APNU/AFC aligned Chief Elections Officer who shows clear partisan bias in refusing to prepare his report as instructed by the GECOM Chair.
Since the March 2, 2020 elections in Guyana, APNU/AFC aligned GECOM staff have presented three different results which show a win for the APNU/AFC government. However, all of these reports were deemed fraudulent by the local and international observers.
Foreign diplomats of the ABCE countries, CARICOM and Commonwealth have all called on the APNU/AFC to respect the results of the recount and allow a democratic transition of government in Guyana. However, the APNU/AFC supporters refuse to do so, instead shouting at the international community to respect Guyana’s sovereignty while at the same time seeking help from the International Court of Justice in fighting the Venezuela/Guyana border controversy.
If the APNU/AFC continues to hold on to office illegally, it will not have the support of the OAS – which in turn will precipitate a dangerous situation in Guyana that will leave the country vulnerable to attacks from without and convulsions within.
In a democracy, the people choose their government and has the power to change that government at any time. However, a dictatorship is a dangerous regime in which the people’s voice is muzzled and often leads to sanctions, food shortage, inflated currency and general suffering of the population.
In a recent meeting with foreign diplomats from the ABCE countries, the Guyana Defense Force Chief of Staff reassured the international community that it is apolitical in nature and is dedicated to respecting the constitution of Guyana. All foreign powers have recognized the opposition PPP/C as the winner of the March 2, 2020 elections.
In short, the removal of the APNU/AFC dictator government is imminent while it continues to grasp at every last straw to take Guyana back down the dark days of dictatorship.