Women’s Progressive Organisation condemns disrespect to PM Mottley

The Women’s Progressive Organisation (Guyana) says it condemns the disrespect shown to Prime Minister of Barbados and current Chair of CARICOM, Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

In a statement WPO said President David Granger must stop to the name calling and insults of Prime Minister Mottley.

Here is the remainder of the statement:

The March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections were deemed free and fair by APNU+AFC and by local and international observers. The tabulation of the votes came to abrupt end on the 5th March, 2020 when Mingo attempted, several times, to declared APNU+AFC, the winner of the elections.

This resulted in several court proceedings, which paved the way for a Recount of the Ballots. This process was observed by a high-level team from CARICOM, which disclosed that the People’s Progressive /Civic won the elections by over 15,000 votes over the incumbent.

Due to the impasse, Mr. Granger invited CARICOM to mediate a way forward, which resulted in Hon. Mia Mottley and four Prime Ministers from the Caribbean to visit Guyana. This paved the way for the Recount of the Ballots.

One hundred and sixteen (116) days after the Recount of the Ballots, the CEO of GECOM, Keith Lowenfield has so far prepared and submitted two reports to the Chairperson of GECOM. The first report disenfranchised over 250,000 voters and the second report disenfranchised over 115,000 voters. In both reports, Lowenfield changed the results of the Recount and attempted like Mingo, to declare APNU+AFC as the winner of the elections.

Mr. Granger has so far refused to concede even though the coalition lost the election. The International Observer Teams, which included the ABCE countries, the OAS, the Commonwealth, CARICOM and other countries, including local observers and the Private Sector have been very loud and clear in their condemnation of the rigging and disenfranchisement of Guyanese Voters. They all demand that ‘All votes must be counted and declared’ and no voter to be disenfranchised. Recently, this was echoed in a video statement by the CARICOM Chairwoman, Hon. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.

Mr. Granger refused to concede, while he and his coalition partners continue to mislead their supporters into believing that APNU+AFC won the elections. This resulted in the character assassination and abuse of international leaders by APNU+AFC operatives both at the executive and local level.

This pretensive caretaker president, because of his lust for power has continuously violated the Constitution since the No Confidence Motion and has manipulated the law at every level to stay in government.

Mr. Granger has conveniently forgotten the accolades he showered on Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados on February 3, 2020 when she was awarded Guyana’s second highest national award. He said, “Prime Minister Mottley, you have distinguished yourself as an ardent advocate for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). You have combined your almost 30 years of political activism with your personal enthusiasm and your country’s legendary leadership in regional integration. We applaud your leadership, we applaud your stewardship, and we applaud your willingness to partner with Caribbean States”.

With this same respect, he invited Hon. Mia Mottley, as Chair of CARICOM to send a team of persons to Observe the Recount of Ballots. The CARICOM Observer Team submitted its Report to the Commission upon completion of the recount.

Upon recognizing that the report submitted for declaration by GECOM CEO, Keith Lowenfield was contrary to the findings of the Recount, the CARICOM Chair spoke out. She demanded that every vote must be counted and a winner to be declared based on the results of the recount. Eversince, government officials and supporters have gone on a rampage to assassinate the character of the Honourable Prime Minister.

The WPO calls on Granger to concede to losing the elections and to stop all those associated with him and his Coalition from maligning the good name of the CARICOM Chairwoman. WPO Further encourages Granger to stop lying to his supporters and to respect the Constitution of Guyana.

The WPO calls on the Women and Gender Equality Commission, other women’s organisations and on all who cherish the rule of a law and democracy, to condemn the attack on the Hon. Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

WPO calls on GECOM Chairwoman to use the powers invested in her to declare the elections based on the numbers of the recount, so that Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali can be sworn in and a legitimate government can manage the affairs of Guyana.