Incoming CARICOM Chair tells election loser “take your licks like a man”

… PNCR calls on CARICOM to distance itself from his comments

Jun 12, 2020 News 1 , Source - Kaieteur News Online - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...ur-licks-like-a-man/

CARICOM will not stand idly by and watch the results of the recount be set aside. So the loser of the elections must take his “licks like a man”. This is according to Prime Minister of St. Vincent & the Grenadines and incoming CARICOM Chair, Ralph Gonsalves. After he made this and other comments on a radio show, NBC Radio – “Your Morning Cup” in his country, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition and its leading constituent, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) both responded in condemnation, calling his comments prejudicial. The PNCR, in particular said that unless current CARICOM Chair and Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, makes a statement, distancing the regional union from Gonsalves’ statement, it would be viewed as an attempt by CARICOM to scuttle the electoral process.

Incoming CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves

Following the final tabulation of votes of the National Recount on June 8, which placed the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in the lead, there have been several outcries by the Coalition, insisting that the final recount was invalid and that it cannot be used to declare the winner. Due to this, the Coalition has also refused to sign the District Certificates, all except for Region One.

The Coalition has accumulated thousands of allegations of electoral fraud, levelled against the PPP/C. It has asserted that these allegations point to an undermining of the electoral process, and a non-credible election. However, the Coalition’s claims have largely been unsubstantiated, and many were proven to be false.

Gonsalves, mentioned that he is a friend of the President, David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and that he, in his honest opinion, thinks that the recount process was carried out effectively and should definitely be used to declare the long anticipated winner.

But the Coalition says that many of the ballot boxes are tainted by irregularities, mainly in strongholds of the PPP/C. It argues that when those boxes are discarded, the remaining votes show it is the winner.

Gonsalves at the Ministry of the Presidency, in March alongside current CARICOM Chair and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley [left] and outgoing Guyana Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (CARICOM)

A CARICOM Ambassador, Noel Lynch, had told the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States (OAS) that irregularities did not occur in the process by which the Guyanese electorate cast their votes, but in the count of votes.

Gonsalves further added that as the CARICOM observer mission is expected to deliver its report on the recount, that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) should declare a winner in accordance with its results.

The three-person Scrutineering Team consists of Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cynthia Barrow-Giles; Commissioner on Antigua and Barbuda’s Electoral Commission, John Jarvis; and Supervisor of the Electoral Commission of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Gonsalves was also a part of the group of officials led by the CARICOM Chair and Barbados Prime Minister Mottley, who came to Guyana in March after the Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, produced a declaration marred by a lack of transparency and protest.

Kaieteur News has proven, through verifiable reports, that Mingo rigged the tabulation to secure a fraudulent national victory for the Coalition.

CARICOM Leaders, including Gonsalves, and CARICOM Chair and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, in a March meeting with the Opposition (CARICOM)

The National Recount of votes has confirmed this, as the Coalition got 116,941 votes, below the Mingo-impacted figure of 136,057 votes in that District’s General Election. He also deflated the PPP/C’s General Election vote from 80,920 to 77,231.

In doing so, the Returning Officer, conjured 15,427 ghost voters.
Gonsalves in his statement declared that CARICOM will not “tolerate anybody stealing an election”, adding that anyone who sees it fit to challenge anything after the announcement is welcomed to do so in court. But for now, he referred to GECOM, “you have to declare the winner in accordance with the recount”.

The PPP/C and A New and United Guyana (ANUG) have said that it would be illegal for GECOM to investigate matters of fraud allegedly occurring on Election Day, as that would be the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court.

The recount has shown that the Coalition lost the Election with a General Election total of 217,920 votes, behind the PPP/C’s total of 233,336 votes.
The St. Vincent PM urged all to come to terms with the outcome of the elections, stating “if you lose, take your licks like a man”.

The APNU+AFC coalition in a jab at the PM’s credibility, said that it is unfortunate that he, who is “embroiled” in an elections petition in his home country, is commenting on this matter.

The party called his remarks prejudicial to the integrity of the process and its eventual outcome, and called for CARICOM leaders to refrain from words and actions that might undermine the process’ legitimacy and credible conclusion.

Hours later, the PNCR – the leading faction of the Coalition – also put out a statement alleging prejudice, and called his comments “a direct interference into the affairs of a sovereign nation” and the work of GECOM.

The party said that his statements constitute an attack on the integrity of the CARICOM team, as it alleges that Gonsalves is making a direct appeal to influence the team in the preparation of its report on the recount process.

“The People’s National Congress Reform, therefore, calls on the sitting Chairman of CARICOM, the Right Honourable Mia Motley, to issue a clear statement distancing CARICOM from Prime Minister Gonzales’ statement lest it be interpreted as CARICOM’s intention to scuttle the entire process of arriving at a final credible process,” the party stated.

It added that it hopes “there is no irreparable damage to our relations with CARICOM consequently.”

Gonsalves is set to assume the Chairmanship of CARICOM on July 1.

@Former Member posted:

Incoming CARICOM Chair tells election loser “take your licks like a man”

… PNCR calls on CARICOM to distance itself from his comments

Jun 12, 2020 News 1 , Source - Kaieteur News Online - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...ur-licks-like-a-man/

Gonsalves at the Ministry of the Presidency, in March alongside current CARICOM Chair and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley [left] and outgoing Guyana Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo (CARICOM)

Perhaps, a part of the conversation ...

Nagamootoo = ( crying) - Meh nah guh be Prime Minister nuh moh.

Gonsalves = Now now Moses, grow up and be a real man.

Mia Mottley and Ralph Gonsalves with broad smiles.

‘Ralph Gonsalves perfectly in order’; Owen Arthur says Harmon should not be attacking Caribbean leaders

By Editor On Jun 12, 2020 , Source - https://newsroom.gy/2020/06/12...g-caribbean-leaders/

Owen Arthur, the former Prime Minister of Barbados has said the statement by incoming chairman of CARICOM, Ralph Gonsalves, that the bloc will not stand by and watch an election being stolen is perfectly in order and that he should not be attacked in the way he has been by APNU+AFC Campaign Manager Joe Harmon.

Arthur, speaking with the News Room via telephone Friday, said Harmon “is a mere utensil” and “cannot be allowed to indulge his appetite to be attacking leaders.”

Further, he said President David Granger should let Harmon know his place if they hope to have goodwill with the people of the Caribbean. Harmon had stated that “it is to be expected that CARICOM leaders would refrain from any actions or utterances that could undermine the legitimacy of the process and its credible conclusion”.

But Arthur said Caribbean countries, including Guyana, have signed a Charter for Civil Society which enjoins upon them the responsibility to have free and fair elections and it is in that context that Mr Gonsalves had spoken. Here is Mr Arthur’s statement to the News Room.

“Ralph Gonsalves’ statement that CARICOM will not stand by to watch an election being stolen is perfectly in order and is exactly what is expected.

“Caribbean countries, including Guyana, have signed a Charter for Civil Society which enjoins upon them the responsibility to have free and fair elections.

“It would, therefore, be entirely contrary to the provisions of the Charter for Civil Society for CARICOM countries to stand by if an election is being stolen.

“And therefore Mr Gonsalves was only speaking within the context of the spirit and the letter of the Charter of Civil Society when he made the statement that he made.

“I must also say that Joe Harmon’s and his party’s attacks on people is putting his party and his leader in a position where I believe it would be very difficult for them to be able to engage in fellowship of goodwill with other people in the Caribbean.

“The vitriolic attack on other leaders is really in a way putting Guyana in a condition where it appears to have itself being led by people who are out of order.

“Mr Harmon cannot be allowed to indulge his appetite to be attacking leaders.

“If there is an issue at the level of leaders – between leaders of the Caribbean and Guyana – then one would expect that leaders of the Caribbean would have to be spoken to with respect and that the person who is qualified to speak to other Caribbean leaders will be the leader of Guyana and not Mr Joe Harmon.

“In this matter, Mr Joe Harmon is a mere utensil and he is out of order to be speaking to Caribbean leaders in the way in which he is.

“And if he is speaking with the support of the President of Guyana, who would himself want to sit in Council with other leaders, it would be good for the President of Guyana to tell Mr Harmon that that is not his responsibility.

“I am beginning to wonder now, how is this is being allowed for Joe Harmon at his level to be attacking Caribbean leaders when Guyana still sees itself and its leader in good standing with the Caribbean?

“I don’t think Ralph Gonsalves should feel in any way, first of all, intimidated or having to cower, because that seems to be the intention.

“There is a Charter of Civil Society under which Guyana has signed to bind itself to free and fair elections and Gonsalves is calling for Guyana to respect that Charter of Civil Society that holds us together as a community.

“And all of us who are watching this in the Caribbean and who want to maintain a relationship with Guyana of respect, will bind ourselves to that Charter of Civil Society and expect people in Guyana to do likewise.

“And I’m not going to get involved in the question about the recount…but these attacks on people merely because they express a position suggests that there are those in Guyana who feel you have to go and cower and hide.

“The people of the Caribbean are not going to be intimidated by Joe Harmon or his ilk.

“And it is very wrong what he is being allowed to do because he is not at the level of a leader and your leader should not be allowing Mr Joe Harmon to be attacking other leaders in the Caribbean in this vitriolic way.”

Owen Arthur, the former Prime Minister of Barbados and APNU+AFC Campaign Manager Joe Harmon