A woman made of the finest steel

 Aug 06, 2020  Editorial 1 Comment

After the honeymoon glow of her appointment had worn off, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh ran into a blizzard of suspicion. In view of how events played out for long months at a time, it would be far more accurate to say that the blizzards and avalanches and mudslides all dumped on her head. But through all of this, Ms. Singh, showed she was made of the finest steel, never bowing or bending, even though the breaking point had to have threatened on more than one occasion.
In a singular Guyanese example of courage under fire, Ms. Singh was a rare profile in rarer courage. We salute her for never flinching. We hail her for never swerving. And we laud for remaining unflappable in the face of a tsunami of overwhelming situations all fraught with the raw edges of Guyanese bigotries, the unsparing realities of our accumulated political malice.
Now that there is a moment of temporary calm, we here at this paper take a moment to look at where things are today, and a little bit more of how she did. The first thing that should be said is this: as long as there is one Guyanese somewhere with one breath in his or her body, there will be disagreement and fury, if not controversy, over the final moments leading up to the declaration developments at GECOM. No matter how much we commend her for a job well done, and the rest of Guyana also, there will be someone, highly likely many, who takes serious objection to this narrative and position of ours.
Nonetheless with that duly acknowledged and discerned, it would take an alien who is a total stranger to the ways of Guyana, and especially its now settled elections culture, to not pay tribute to how the Chairwoman of GECOM, Ms. Claudette Singh, conducted herself, managed the business before her, and herded the bag of unruly cats that were part of her charge. Concerning the latter, that would be the six politically named commissioners to GECOM.
It could not have been easy. It certainly was never smooth or without blemish, where over a million eyes and ears waited to question and condemn, and to second guess and scorn, this decision or that, the next pause or movement, and on and on ad infinitum.
Because of the nature of the job and the extremely sensitive responsibilities attached to it, Chair Singh was not able to respond to critics, to argue with dissenters, or to convince cynics.
Ms. Singh had to take it all on the chin and remain standing, without appearing to be ruffled and, believe it or not, without seeming to sweat. Some were low blows that questioned her integrity, that labeled her prejudiced, and that had to have hurt with the accumulated vileness. We here in Guyana owe this daughter of the soil for her steadfast devotion to the task at hand and her unerring instinct to think on her feet and be confident enough and strong enough to make decision after decision that everyone knew was sure to provoke the greatest of anger, and the worst of insults flowing from suspicions about the most biased of motives.
We are familiar with such situations since we have come in for more than our share of the savaging and searing. And is because of this that we can empathize deeply with Justice Singh. For this is what Guyana and Guyanese are about sometimes when they do not get their way, when they feel thwarted, and they look for someone at which to lash out blindly and woundingly. This was the lot, time and again, of Chairwoman Singh, who through it all stood her ground and did her duty, regardless of how the cookie crumbled.
Like we said earlier, and this is regardless of how her final decision(s) has been received, Ms. Singh did her duty and showed all of us what it means to be courageous and withstand withering fire from all angles and all comers. If only we had more like her in the many.
To Chairwoman Claudette Singh we say: well done, very well done!

No doubt I had my concerns about her but in the end her knowledge and experience of law coupled with her convictions provided her the necessary tools to execute her duties as GECOM Chairperson. I thought she was dragging her feet after Mingo clumsily attempted to rig the elections and into July but maybe that is her style of ensuring that her actions are beyond reproach. But hindsight is 20/20 and as I look back at all her actions beginning from her appointment there are many instances where she graciously avoided becoming a pawn to any political party in her actions. Even on the final day when she made the declaration she still was able to afford the Coalition another opportunity to contend that she was not belligerently ignoring them. Time was of the essence and her declaration and the subsequent swearing in of Ali as President within hours.

I think that the long drawn out elections battle also contributed to the relative quietness of events following the declaration. Guyanese from all sides had five months to understand what had happened giving resolve to the final declaration. As Freddie said last night if the elections were held yesterday, the PPP would win at least a 2/3 majority not so much for what the PPP is but more for how people view what the PNC has done the past five months to Guyana. Freddie also wondered who would emerge as the leader of the PNC given how tainted Granger, Harmon and Lawrence currently are.

But back to the Chairperson. Guyanese from all divides should be very grateful for the calm and guided manner in which she piloted the most consequential elections of Guyana. I don't know who else would have been able to do that. For that I add my name to those who acknowledge her as The Iron Lady.

I thought she got more assertive after the PNC started losing in the courts and Lolofeel refused her directives. Through her attorney Kim Kyte, you could see their frustrations. In the end, she did her job. I don't think she ever will want a job like that again. I am sure Granger was very disappointed and wished he did not choose her.

Poor lady, PNC almost gave her a heart attack.

They should start an investigation into the election fraud. I heard that PNC locked up her in her office while Mingo attempted daytime fraud.

I just can't wait to see lolobai and Mingo bai in shackles.

The new head of the Presidential Guard is singing as to who was giving orders to Lolo and Mingo.

The messy trail leads back to culprit Granger.

@Former Member posted:

Poor lady, PNC almost gave her a heart attack.

They should start an investigation into the election fraud. I heard that PNC locked up her in her office while Mingo attempted daylight daytime fraud.

I just can't wait to see lolobai and Mingo bai in shackles.

Lowenfield is due back in court next week.

That's only the first case. 

PPP is preparing the main case to follow. He rass will serve in Mazaruni Prison for a looonnnggg time.

I heard dat Mingo stocked up on diapers. 

@Former Member posted:

A woman made of the finest steel

 Aug 06, 2020  Editorial 1 Comment

---

After the honeymoon glow of her appointment had worn off, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh ran into a blizzard of suspicion. In view of how events played out for long months at a time, it would be far more accurate to say that the blizzards and avalanches and mudslides all dumped on her head. But through all of this, Ms. Singh, showed she was made of the finest steel, never bowing or bending, even though the breaking point had to have threatened on more than one occasion.
In a singular Guyanese example of courage under fire, Ms. Singh was a rare profile in rarer courage. We salute her for never flinching. We hail her for never swerving. And we laud for remaining unflappable in the face of a tsunami of overwhelming situations all fraught with the raw edges of Guyanese bigotries, the unsparing realities of our accumulated political malice.
Now that there is a moment of temporary calm, we here at this paper take a moment to look at where things are today, and a little bit more of how she did. The first thing that should be said is this: as long as there is one Guyanese somewhere with one breath in his or her body, there will be disagreement and fury, if not controversy, over the final moments leading up to the declaration developments at GECOM. No matter how much we commend her for a job well done, and the rest of Guyana also, there will be someone, highly likely many, who takes serious objection to this narrative and position of ours.
Nonetheless with that duly acknowledged and discerned, it would take an alien who is a total stranger to the ways of Guyana, and especially its now settled elections culture, to not pay tribute to how the Chairwoman of GECOM, Ms. Claudette Singh, conducted herself, managed the business before her, and herded the bag of unruly cats that were part of her charge. Concerning the latter, that would be the six politically named commissioners to GECOM.
It could not have been easy. It certainly was never smooth or without blemish, where over a million eyes and ears waited to question and condemn, and to second guess and scorn, this decision or that, the next pause or movement, and on and on ad infinitum.
Because of the nature of the job and the extremely sensitive responsibilities attached to it, Chair Singh was not able to respond to critics, to argue with dissenters, or to convince cynics.
Ms. Singh had to take it all on the chin and remain standing, without appearing to be ruffled and, believe it or not, without seeming to sweat. Some were low blows that questioned her integrity, that labeled her prejudiced, and that had to have hurt with the accumulated vileness. We here in Guyana owe this daughter of the soil for her steadfast devotion to the task at hand and her unerring instinct to think on her feet and be confident enough and strong enough to make decision after decision that everyone knew was sure to provoke the greatest of anger, and the worst of insults flowing from suspicions about the most biased of motives.
We are familiar with such situations since we have come in for more than our share of the savaging and searing. And is because of this that we can empathize deeply with Justice Singh. For this is what Guyana and Guyanese are about sometimes when they do not get their way, when they feel thwarted, and they look for someone at which to lash out blindly and woundingly. This was the lot, time and again, of Chairwoman Singh, who through it all stood her ground and did her duty, regardless of how the cookie crumbled.
Like we said earlier, and this is regardless of how her final decision(s) has been received, Ms. Singh did her duty and showed all of us what it means to be courageous and withstand withering fire from all angles and all comers. If only we had more like her in the many.
To Chairwoman Claudette Singh we say: well done, very well done!

You are only saying that because she supported the PPP and the recount. She waffled. She moved with the wind and she sensed that the world was against the coalition...dont give her that muchg  credit.

@VishMahabir posted:

You are only saying that because she supported the PPP and the recount. She waffled. She moved with the wind and she sensed that the world was against the coalition...don't give her that much  credit.

Perhaps. But she could have continued down the destructive road like the like of Williams and Harmon.