Chartered Accountant and former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, is of the firm view that the actors involved in the attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections, whether directly or indirectly, should face criminal prosecution. According to the columnist, the attempts Guyanese have witnessed at electoral fraud, and the scale at which they occurred, represent a crime against humanity and should not be ignored or swept under the carpet.
Chartered Accountant and former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran
But Goolsarran was keen to note that this is not the first time such attempts at electoral fraud would have occurred. In fact, the columnist noted that Guyana’s history is littered with instances of those who tampered with the electoral process and the results. Goolsarran said that this can be traced back to the 1968 elections while adding that it would have ended with the 1992 elections due to the intervention of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Goolsarran articulated that prior to that period the citizenry saw the installation of an authoritarian regime that brought the country to its knees economically, socially and otherwise. He posited as well that this occurred during the height of the Cold War when the Western Powers conspired to keep the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) out of office because of its communist leanings. Goolsarran said that when the Cold War ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was no longer any interest in keeping the PPP out of office – hence the restoration of democracy through the conduct of free and fair elections in 1992.
Further to this, Goolsarran said that the period 1968 to 1992 had brought immense suffering to the Guyanese population that caused so many of the nation’s best minds to seek refuge in North America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, to provide a better way of life for themselves and their families. Upon reflection on Guyana’s history and the turmoil that resulted from election rigging, Goolsarran questioned, “Are we going to allow the country to be taken back to the pre-1992 days?”
The local columnist said he has no difficulty in stating that attempts to undermine the will of the people to elect the government of their choice is perhaps the greatest act of betrayal and lack of patriotism. He added that it is the duty of all citizens who have the national interest at heart to speak out and let their voices be heard especially on this matter that is of grave national importance.
