I would caution against any attempt to undermine the country’s main revenue agency

Dear Editor,

I read with surprise a social media post alleging that “tons of documents” were removed from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and destroyed.

The GRA has procedures for the disposal of documents and records and I find the story that several trucks were escorted by GRA enforcement ranks during broad daylight more than a bit implausible.

What I can respond to directly however, is the statement in the post that staff were instructed to leave the building at 4 PM. It just so happens that I arrived at the Camp Street building at 4:10 PM and witnessed there numerous staff when I arrived and a lesser number when I left at about 4:45 PM.

Even making allowance for the liberality of social media, I think it is really sad that the careers and reputation of anyone, including professionals like Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia, could be so easily impugned. It makes me recall how badly the  former Commission-er General, the late Mr. Khurshid Sattaur was treated by the Granger administration on its assumption of office and how unceremonious was his departure. I understand that as an act of fraternity and professional courtesy, Statia, on his assumption to the top position in the GRA, sought to rectify the injustice done to Sattaur.

For this country to move forward, we have to discourage character assassination and personal spite. And importantly, I would caution against any attempt to discredit and undermine the country’s main Revenue agency which is an inevitable consequence of the type of post we witnessed on Wednesday. 

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Ram 

For all the good that the internet has done to make information available with a click or tap there lurks a seedy underbelly. It is now a haven for fake news by rogue actors.  The same power of the internet is used to easily create and disseminate fake news via social media platforms. So when I see something posted or sourced from Facebook and other social media platforms, I am always cautious and treat it with a healthy dose of scepticism  whether it is legit, whether original content is doctored or outright fraudulent. 

@Former Member posted:

For all the good that the internet has done to make information available with a click or tap there lurks a seedy underbelly. It is now a haven for fake news by rogue actors.  The same power of the internet is used to easily create and disseminate fake news via social media platforms. So when I see something posted or sourced from Facebook I am always cautious whether it legit, whether original content is doctored or outright fraudulent.

So, are you saying Mingo did not try to fudge the numbers?

Where was there any mention of Guyana elections or Mingo. Besides Mingo’s tabulated numbers was not a creatiion of social media.

Yes, Mingo’s numbers were not real. My answer might surprise you.

Granger and Volda DID NOT issue a public notice condemning Kaieture News and the former permanent secretary for this so call FAKE NEWS posted on APNU website who lies day and nite. I will expect Volda and Granger to file lawsuit...  did I miss  the notice... just asking.

Breaking

FMR AFC MINISTER CONCEDES

Having said what I had to say back in March, and having then stayed silent for three months while the recount was agreed, challenged and finally executed, I can no longer wait quietly and politely while our country gets hijacked, ridiculed and torn apart.
In a nutshell, there are six things I would like to elaborate on concerning the 2020 elections adventure:
1) A win by either of the major contestants ought not to have come as a shock to anyone;
2) Supporters of the APNU+AFC were misled into believing that the coalition had won the election;
3) There was then a deliberate attempt to discredit the entire elections;
4) No evidence has been provided to support the claim of vast numbers of rejected ballots among those of the disciplined services, let alone the allegation of a deliberate attempt to invalidate the votes of the disciplined services;
5) No power on earth can convince the APNU+AFC leadership that it lost the election; and
6) All that has occurred since March 4th will make it extremely difficult for APNU and/or the AFC to defeat the PPP in 2025.

It was never a valid assumption that, having won the 2015 elections by a slim majority, the APNU+AFC Coalition would easily win the 2020 elections. It was always going to be tough fight. I’m no political analyst, but it’s fairly obvious that the swing vote has determined the results of the last three General elections in Guyana. Having failed at the polls for over two decades, the PNC never commanded the electoral strength to win an election on its own, and was only able to squeeze past the PPP-C because of its alliance with the AFC. Unlike the PPP-C and the PNC, the AFC does not have a stranglehold on any section of the electorate. Instead it relies on a swing vote that is more discerning and less forgiving than the constituents of the two larger parties. The question, therefore, is whether it is possible that a sizeable portion of the swing voters, who supported the AFC in 2015, abandoned the Coalition in 2020 and voted instead for the PPP and the new parties. To me this is entirely possible and therefore the results of the 2020 election, while not desirable, are certainly plausible.
Having paid close attention to the tabulated results of the 2020 elections, and having done some projections of my own, I knew by Wednesday, March 4th that a coalition victory, while still possible, was unlikely. I was aware that we had lost the East Coast Demerara sub-district by several thousand votes and the East Bank Demerara sub-district by close to one thousand votes. At the time, the Returning Officer for District Four, Mr. Clairmont Mingo, had completed the tabulations for the Georgetown area, showing the Coalition ahead in District Four by nearly forty thousand votes. This was clearly not enough to close the more than fifty thousand vote lead that the PPP-C had gained in the other nine electoral districts, which had already been tabulated. I was not particularly concerned when I heard the first reports of a “spreadsheet” being used by Mr. Mingo. However, when I heard the actual numbers that he finally declared, I became deeply suspicious. There was no way his numbers could have been correct. Much to my disappointment, the leaderships of both APNU and the AFC claimed that Mingo’s numbers were consistent with our own Statements Of Poll. They also insisted that a final declaration be made on the basis of those numbers, and supported the court action to prevent a recount. The recount went ahead and the results showed clearly that Mingo’s numbers could not have been based on actual Statements Of Poll. At the very least APNU+AFC’s supporters deserve an explanation from its leadership as to the basis on which they claimed to have won the election prior to the recount.
We live in an imperfect world and no electoral system, especially not one that relies on manual voting and counting, is foolproof or devoid of irregularities. The nation put its faith in the CARICOM observer team, and held its breath for the duration of the recount, while being treated to a daily menu of “Breaking News” of more and more discoveries of “Massive Fraud” and “Systemic Rigging”. In the end the CARICOM team delivered its report, endorsing the elections and the results of the recount, only to have it rejected by the Coalition in favour of a devious piece of reasoning by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield. To her credit, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission then issued very clear instructions to Mr. Lowenfield to submit a report for consideration by the Commission using the results of the recount. Needless to say, another move to the court has been made and this report, from which a final declaration should have resulted, will now have to await the outcome of yet another tedious challenge. The claims of fraud were grossly exaggerated and, unfortunately, designed to fool party supporters, who had placed their faith in the coalition, into believing that there was actual evidence of serious elections rigging by the PPP-C. The claim that vast numbers of disciplined services ballots were deliberately not stamped, and therefore rejected, is a case in point. The so-called intermixing stations are known, and it is a fairly simple task to sum up all the unstamped rejected ballots in those stations to support the allegation. This, however, was not done and the ominous suggestion was left to torment the minds of the men and women responsible for the defence and protection of our country and its citizens.
All of this leads me to a very uncomfortable conclusion. The APNU+AFC has no intention of relinquishing control of government. Five years after winning an election and gaining office with a fair amount of goodwill, the coalition is saying to the people who put us there, the equivalent of “unless and until WE are satisfied beyond a shadow of a doubt that “more votes are cast” in favour of another party in a an election that WE deem credible, WE ain going nowhere”. That condition will never be satisfied.
My message to my colleagues in the APNU+AFC is simple. No one elected us to remain in office forever. There is no reasonable basis on which you can claim to have won more votes than the PPP-C in these elections. Level with your supporters and start directing your energies towards becoming a credible opposition party in time for 2025. Above all, try to regain the trust of the swing voter. You will never win another election without their support.

Dominic Gaskin

"Former" is the key word. Gaskin has been far removed from the Coalition for some time.

Try again.

@Rochelle posted:

"Former" is the key word. Gaskin has been far removed from the Coalition for some time.

Try again.

STOP yo LIES! it ketching up with you. ... Gaskin was NEVER removed from the coalition. He give up his ministerial seat because he is a dual citizen and Granger reappoint him as  Director of Manufacturing and Marketing.

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...en-ministers-resign/

@Rochelle posted:

"Former" is the key word. Gaskin has been far removed from the Coalition for some time.

Try again.

And Granger and the PNC has been removed for some time.  He is Care Taker!

Rochelle dawling, give it up!  You stressing while we making fun.  The party's over!  I hate seeing you like this!

@Former Member posted:

STOP yo LIES! it ketching up with you. ... Gaskin was NEVER removed from the coalition. He give up his ministerial seat because he is a dual citizen and Granger reappoint him as  Director of Manufacturing and Marketing.

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...en-ministers-resign/

Would you give up your Canadian Citizenship and pension for Guyana's pension?

@Mitwah posted:

Would you give up your Canadian Citizenship and pension for Guyana's pension?

I get both cause I contribute to the system and pay my taxes. 

Imagine people listen to so much false news that them ain’t even know when the real thing come and the chief false news uncle call it fake.

@Abu Jihad, this site made me into a skeptic. 

@Former Member posted:

STOP yo LIES! it ketching up with you. ... Gaskin was NEVER removed from the coalition. He give up his ministerial seat because he is a dual citizen and Granger reappoint him as  Director of Manufacturing and Marketing.

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...en-ministers-resign/

STINKING LIARS are dime a dozen!!!!

@Mitwah posted:

@Abu Jihad, this site made me into a skeptic. 

You were talking to one of main pedlars of fake news on this site. 

@Former Member posted:

You were talking to one of main pedlars of fake news on this site. 

Mits, you see uncle FC show up

Watergate in the making.    If the PNC top guns are stealing and you keep quiet about it, then you must not complain when the PPP go after them and take away state cars and furnitures from them as they did in 2015. 

The lands they give themselves will be taxed heavily.

Ramjattan concession speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...A4&feature=share

This was the man who tried to put Jagdeo behind bars on Granger orders. 

Everybody in the AFC said that The PPP won the Election.  The AFC members said that after 5 years there were no changes and that why they lost.    The PNC apologist on GNI should be ashamed of themselves for trying  to think that  the coalition won.  

@Nehru posted:

STINKING LIARS are dime a dozen!!!!

Then with a nickel I can get 1/2 dozen Daves.