Opposition accuses Police of political harassment after Chief Scrutineer is summoned by SOCU

Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan was the last high profile Opposition personnel to be arrested by SOCU.

Opposition accuses Police of political harassment after Chief Scrutineer is summoned by SOCU

The Opposition APNU+AFC is calling out the Special Organised Crime Unit for “harassment” after its Chief Scrutineer, Carol Smith-Joseph was summoned by SOCU for questioning.

The coalition in a statement said it believes that the move is political. It was Smith-Joseph who filed a Court action last week that will likely result in another round of claims and objections for the upcoming local elections.

“The APNU+AFC Coalition would like to inform the public that its Chief Election Scrutineer, Ms. Carol Smith-Joseph, was instructed yesterday to report to SOCU on Friday morning, 9th December. Ms. Smith-Joseph was not provided with any reasons for the summon. The Coalition calls on citizens to condemn this action as intimidatory, politically-driven and, therefore, totally unacceptable,” the Opposition said today.

The main Opposition said Ms. Smith-Joseph has been on the forefront of its struggle for credible elections, inclusive of a clean voters list, reminding that she has led several protests in front of the Guyana Elections Commission calling for the resignation of the Chairperson and for the Commission to undertake a process to produce a clean voters list.

“On Friday, 2nd December, she filed an application asking the court for declarations that GECOM violated several provisions of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act in the preparation of the List of Electors for the Local Government Elections. As the public is aware, the court action immediately forced the CEO of GECOM to propose that GECOM take several corrective actions,” the Opposition reminded.

The APNU+AFC said the summoning of its Chief Scrutineer by the Police is a violation of her basic human rights as a law-abiding citizen.

“It is an abuse of police powers. SOCU obviously has become a tool of PPP political victimization and intimidation. SOCU can better serve the citizens of Guyana by redirecting its efforts to investigating the blatant corruption and criminality in high government offices, starting with Su-gate,” the Opposition pointed out.

This is not the first time SOCU is being accused of harassing Opposition members.

Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan was the last high profile Opposition personnel to be arrested by SOCU.

Before his arrest, Jordan received threats of arrest after speaking out against the Government on a talk show about the current state of the economy.

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