5th of August, 2020. Georgetown, Guyana, South America.
Last updated: August 5, 2020 at 22:00 pm
Mr. Robeson Benn has today, 5th of August, 2020, been appointed the Minister of Home Affairs of Guyana, South America.
Mr. Benn is a longstanding PPP/C politician who had served in the past as Minster of Public Works under PPP/C leadership. He has also served as a PPP/C appointed commissioner at the Guyana Elections Commission during the last (2020) elections.
Mr. Benn had created headlines in March, 2020 when he refused to be evicted from the Arthur Chung Convention Center by the Tactical Service Unit. At that time, the containers containing the Region 4 ballot boxes were being kept at the Arthur Chung Convention Center in Georgetown, Guyana. It was anticipated that recount of those ballots would begin subsequent to the arrival of a CARICOM supervision team. However, a court case filed by an APNU/AFC supporter delayed the recount process.
On Tuesday, 17th of March, 2020, members of the Tactical Service Unit came to “secure the ballot boxes” in order to move them to the GECOM headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana. They ordered everyone to leave the compound but Benn refused, expressing fears that the ballot boxes might be tampered with.
“After 15 minutes or so of trying to cajole me to leave they proceeded to brace me out of the position I was [in] on the ramp of the convention centre. I refused to leave. I hopped around a bit and then they laid hands on me and tried to physically remove me…I held on to the rails and they dragged me along the ground to a point where I was lying on the ground. They said they were going to get a shield to put me on it and physically remove. I kept refusing. I said I was a member of the GECOM and that they were here because of decisions made by the commission,” Benn explained. He also said that he suffered a torn left shoulder and elbow ligament as a result of the incident.
