I read Randy Persaud’s July 1st letter, “Lewis’ tiresome incantations have become boring,” and Harry Hergesh’s July 2nd “Mr Lewis’ views on biometrics.” Both were in Stabroek News (SN) and I respond without apology. If the truth makes them uncomfortable or bored, then they are welcome to look away. But the Guyanese people, especially the working class, cannot afford such luxury. We live the consequences of a corrupted electoral system every day. And we will not be silenced by elites and their cohorts who prefer comfort over accountability.
Their attempt to trivialise the call for a clean voters’ list and biometric safeguards is not only dishonest. It is dangerous. What is “tiresome” is the continued refusal by those in power to ensure free, fair, and credible elections. What is “boring” is the repeated use of empty and dishonest words to defend a bloated, fraudulent voters’ list and a system tilted in favour of the ruling party, the PPP.
I note they refer readers to my June 30th letter “The working class bears the burden of state capture” (SN) Good. Let them read it, because I stand by every word written in that missive. Their so-called rebuttals offered no facts, no counter-evidence, no logic, only arrogance rooted in political loyalty and contempt for dissent. Their evasion of the actual issue is telling.
The latest declaration by GECOM that the voters’ list (Official List of Electors) now stands at 757,715—nearly 100,000 more than 2020, and almost 200,000 more than 2015—ought to alarm every honest Guyanese. These numbers are absurd in a country where the total population barely touches 800,000!
Let the Irfaan Ali/Bharrat Jagdeo regime explain these magical multiplications. Let them explain why, two years after completing the national census, they still refuse to release the data. No wonder they can brag and boast about winning the elections by 65 percent.
The fact remains that Guyanese have been demanding electoral reform for more than five years. They have called for a sanitised voters’ list and biometric identification. Yet, GECOM drags its feet. Parliament stays silent. And the PPP, which in 2015 was in Opposition and marched alongside the people demanding these very reforms, is now in government and chooses to play deaf and dumb. This is no coincidence. It is a calculated betrayal.
The record shows the PPP has benefitted from GECOM compromising the integrity of the voting process. This is a fact anyone can review, and the honest amongst us will not deny. Only those with something to hide would go the distance to keep the truth buried.
Furthermore, the PPP is fully aware that a clean voters’ list and biometric safeguards would break the stranglehold they have on power. That is exactly why they refuse to support these reforms. They don’t want free and fair elections. They fear them. They know that once the playing field is level, their days of manipulating the process are numbered. So they cling to a compromised GECOM, using it as their political firewall to block transparency and secure their stay in office. This is deliberate. It is dishonest. And it is dangerous for democracy.
Let me make it very clear: GECOM serves the PPP, not the Guyanese people. And the PPP, having benefited from that alliance, will not allow any mechanism that guarantees electoral integrity. But they can continue to posture. I will continue to speak. I will continue to stand guard over the sacred right of one man-one-vote, a right for which the Trade Union Movement fought and bled.
This country did not come by democracy through chance. It was earned. And I, Lincoln Lewis, will not sit quietly while the gains of the past are stripped away by those who fear accountability. If that makes me “tiresome,” so be it. Let me be tiresome in defence of justice. Let me be boring in defence of democracy. I would rather wear that label than sit complicit in silence.
