Incensed over a pre-election report published by international observer mission, The Carter Center, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo today scolded the Elections Observer Mission for attempting to “dictate” the operations of local banks that have taken a decision to cut ties with candidates of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) due to their association with US-sanctioned businessman turned politician Azruddin Mohamed.

Addressing reporters at Freedom House today, Mr Jagdeo described the decision by Carter Center to weigh in on the decision of the local banks as “very strange.”

 “Carter Center took it upon itself to tell banks how they must conduct their affairs when even OFAC refused to do that. OFAC made it very explicit and that the United States Treasury Department, which is a financial institution, said, we will not tell the local banks what to do because each banks operate within a framework. And so, I find that very strange,” the PPP/C General Secretary said.

Additionally, criticisms that the ruling party was utilizing state resources to campaign did not sit with Mr. Jagdeo. According to him, the contention is nonsensical.

“The President is still the president of Guyana; the prime minister is still the prime minister of Guyana. In fact, after the elections, five months after the elections, you had ministers of government using state assets, when they had already lost the election. And they say some people are still using state resources. So you expect the president to not go with his vehicle. It is a bunch of nonsense. Oh the president and others are opening hospital and schools, and you know we have no apologies for that,” he said.

In opposition, Mr. Jagdeo had complained about the use of state resources for political campaigning by the then Government, even flagging the then President’s use of the military helicopter to attend a political meeting at the time.

On the Carter Center’s criticism of Government events being taken over by partisan politics, Mr. Jagdeo said the commissioning of hospitals and schools ahead of the elections is a demonstration of the party’s commitment to the country, and that it has made good on its promises. He said for that, PPP/C has no apologies to offer.

 Mr Jagdeo noted that while the Carter Center published a pre-election report back in 2020, that report, unlike this one, did not touch on allegations.

Additionally, he said the report fell short of addressing major issues such as voting buying and alleged cases of threats and violent attacks on citizens by candidates and supporters of WIN. 

“The Doggie matter has been in the public’s domain. The spokesperson for the WIN campaign beats a woman brutally who went to collect payment for going to a meeting. How did they miss that? How did they miss the fact that Brian Max, who is a candidate on that party’s list, threatened to kill the Minister of Education? But they reported on allegations that somehow WIN didn’t get some space to hold their rally somewhere in the country,” the General Secretary said.

Mr Jagdeo, however, found favor with the section of the report that dealt with the List of Electors. He said the report solidifies the party’s position that there is no evidence that the list is “bloated.”

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) have complained bitterly about the state of the list, contending that it contains the names of thousands of dead people, and Guyanese who no longer reside in the country, but Jagdeo said though this has been the parties’ “battle cry,” they have failed to provide the evidence to substantiate their claims.

“So, the Carter Centre examined all the evidence, and they found no evidence of a bloated list,” Jagdeo said.

The Carter Center said it was not provided with any evidence of the inflation of the voters’ list, but admitted in its report that it had not assessed the quality of the list.

Mr. Jagdeo is also pleased with the center’s report that the election campaigns in Guyana have been peaceful for the most part.

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