The A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition has expressed concern the Guyana Police Force has been become politicised and operates in a very unprofessional way, making known that whilst there is no condoning of illegalities, at the same time the coalition will not allow the politically motivated force to act in a very biased and unprofessional way.
In a statement last Thursday the APNU+AFC noted that a registration clerk of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) appeared before the court last week to answer forgery charge in connection with the production of a national identification card, pleaded not guilty, was subsequently placed on $100,000 bail and asked to lodge her passport at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
In highlighting the incident the Opposition inquired what progress the Force and GECOM made, since dozens of cases of forgery of election documents and voter impersonation were made to the police in the run-up to Local Government Elections last June.
According to the Opposition last April they discovered and reported cases of fake signatures on candidate forms, where one and the same People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) agent signed for every nominator. In addition, the coalition made known, several residents in a Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in Region #5 (Union/Naarstigheid Local Authority Area) made official reports at the Fort Wellington Police Station of their names being placed on the PPP/C’s list of candidates as nominators without their permission. The matters were also formally brought to GECOM’s attention, the coalition said.
The Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton later wrote to acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken, stating “These acts are criminal in nature and require the intervention of the Guyana Police Force to bring those who have committed these crimes to justice.” Hicken in his response gave assurance the police stations had the required competence to investigate the reported allegations of forgery and voter impersonation by PPP/C agents, it was pointed out. However, “to date, the Guyana Police Force has brought no such charges, and has gone “conveniently silent and forgetful” on these matters. Evidently, Hicken has again kow-towed to his PPP political puppeteers, likewise, GECOM has completely turned its back on the matter, even though forgery and voter impersonation go to the core of its responsibility to conduct fair and credible elections, the coalition stated.
“Equality before the law demands that all those accused of a similar crime must be prosecuted similarly. But in Guyana under the PPP and its handpicked incompetent and unprofessional acting Commissioner, the law does not apply to PPP agents, members, and cronies. That explains why a GECOM registration clerk could be charged with forgery while several PPP activists can avoid facing the brunt of the law. Guyanese must not accept this state of affairs.”
Stating it is “this level of lawlessness that has caused our society to degenerate,” the opposition recalled Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was accused of bribery and corruption and the police failed to act. Not done, the coalition recalled former Minister Nigel Dharamlall was accused of rape and again the police failed to enforce the law. The PPP has brought law and order to its nadir, the APNU+AFC chastised.
The coalition “again calls on the Guyana Police Force to investigate these allegations based on the evidence submitted to them [and] on GECOM to uphold its constitutional responsibility for fair and credible elections by ensuring that the police investigate all criminal breaches of its systems and file charges as necessary.”
