Actions of the Police Force during 2020 elections must be

SENIOR Counsel Sophia Chote has called upon the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to review the conduct of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and the events that un- folded subsequently. Chote, who is the counsel for the Commission, urged the CoI’s Chairman Justice (Ret’d) Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith to place weight on

reviewed – Elections CoI lawyer recommends

the testimonies of witnesses and the voluminous evidence.

On March 5, 2020, ranks and officers from at least three sections of the Guyana Police Force converged at Ashmin’s building in the midst of a bomb scare. Several of those ranks were accused of aiding attempts to clear the building, even after concern was expressed about the safety of Statements of Poll (SoPs).

“What happened there was abysmal, nothing short of it. [This] is why I think that conduct of some members of the GPF must be looked at [and] must be addressed in the [CoI’s] report,” Chote said.

Further, she noted that Captain Gerald Gouveia, former Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), told the CoI s that it soon became clear that the efforts of Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), the GPF and agents of the APNU+AFC were not on the side of democracy.

She also read a statement from the PSC which noted that the police force seemed to have been acting under “direct political direction.” It stated that members of the PSC and its observers “witnessed the deliberate and forceful intervention of heavily armed police in preventing the oversight of SOPs at GECOM by physically removing accredited political party representatives, accredited observers, including private sector observers, and the members of the media.”

Additionally, another witness, former Police Division 4 ‘A’ Commander, Edgar Thomas, told the CoI that a number of security decisions were made without his knowledge during the 2020 elections fiasco, and that he was later punished for refusing to carry out instructions.

Thomas was reassigned and was reportedly told that retired Police Commissioner Leslie James was not pleased with his performance and was not answering his cellphone while on the ground. Thomas had testified that the reassignment was not one for his rank and noted that he was provided no accommodations to work.

Meanwhile, James testified that his ranks may have “violated” his orders and simply went rogue.

“What I was seeing was total disorder,” James said, noting that he recalled watching the livestream of events on national television.

According to James, after seeing the “mayhem and total disorder”, he had to take immediate action.

However, James stressed that he gave no instructions for persons to vacate the buildings, but for the officers to “secure” it instead. He had related, however, that he watched on the live relay as the ranks defied his orders, but he chose to do nothing.

During his testimony, James also said he called Thomas’s cell phone and even his radio set several was used as a tactic to “intimidate” persons who were left in the building. times to find out what was ongoing on the ground on the day in question but all went unanswered.

“Nurse came and pretended, in my respectful view, that he didn’t know about the first exercise. He only knew about the second one and then he could not stick to one description of the second one.

“But we do know the tactical services unit, a heavily armed unit, specially trained to deal with the most extreme provocations in law, were called out to deal with citizens sitting down and waiting … that night,” Chote said.

This eventually led to the then “Top Cop” making a “personal decision” to remove Thomas without his knowledge.

In reflecting on the evidence before the CoI, Chote said that she is conflicted on the testimony of former officer-in-Charge of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) Guy Nurse, who had denied claims that he had handed down instructions to escort the GECOM Chair out of the Ashmins building on March 5.

However, TSU officers had previously testified about receiving instructions to “clear” the building and “lock it down.”

“Now this whole thing confuses me, and reading over the evidence quite frankly didn’t offer me much resolution. Because we are told that- by the chair and by other witnesses- that [Senior Superintendent, Phillip] Azore took the chairman out of the building.

“I think you can make a finding that there was absolutely no reason for the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) to be called out to Ashmins building,” Chote said. She added that TSU

With concerns mounted about the work of the Guyana Police Force, Chote expressed hope that the CoI’s Chairman would seriously review the actions of the officers as he assesses all the events that unfolded after the last elections.

The CoI commenced in November 2022 and is expected to hand over “its report, findings and recommendations” to the President, in writing, within seven months.

According to the Terms of Reference, the commissioners will make recommendations as deemed fit and necessary to permit GECOM to discharge its statutory functions as prescribed by the Representation of the People Act.

Guyanese, after casting their votes on March 2, 2020, had to endure a five-month wait for the results of the elections, as they witnessed alleged unlawful acts and a slew of legal challenges.

It was only after the legal challenges and international intervention that a national recount of all votes cast was convened, and the figures showed that the PPP/C had received 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC coalition got 217,920 votes.