The high-stakes election fraud trial surrounding Guyana’s disputed March 2020 General and Regional Elections continued on Thursday, with testimony shedding light on extraordinary scenes inside the Ashmin’s Building during the Region Four vote verification.
The Ashmins Building was used for vote tabulation and verification of Region Four votes during the 2020 Guyana elections. It also housed the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Command Centre and the Office of the Returning Officer for Region Four.
The proceedings, before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, aim to determine whether senior election officials and political figures conspired to manipulate the outcome of the polls.
Among the latest witnesses was Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr, who described in detail his attempts to prevent what he believed was an unlawful declaration of results.
Ramson told the court that on March 5, 2020, he saw then Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo enter an office with documents in hand.
Shortly after, the verification exercise was suddenly halted when GECOM staffer Joseph Eastman announced that a declaration for Region Four had been made.
Ramson recalled how the move sparked immediate objections from election observers, and political representatives present.
“Because I know that the verification exercise was not completed, and I also know what the law said — that it was required to be done to ascertain [the number of votes] based on the Statements of Poll (SoPs). So, if that had not been done, then a declaration cannot be made.”
Determined to take action, Ramson drafted a letter formally requesting a recount. What followed, however, was a tense confrontation with locked offices and removed door handles.
“I prepared a letter requesting a recount. I signed the letter and sought to deliver it to where Mr. Mingo would have gone on the second floor. So, I went up the stairs to deliver the letter, but the office was locked. All the handles from the doors were removed. I was rapping and pushing on the doors, and the doors would not open. I also sought to deliver the request to the Chairperson of GECOM, retired judge Claudette Singh. It was unsuccessful because all the doors’ handles were removed.”
The minister stressed that the situation was unprecedented. “Because we had to protect our democracy. Our country should never face the hardships that go with having a rigged election and an unelected government,” he told the court, adding that similar events in the 1980s had left lasting scars on the country.
The standoff stretched for hours. The witness said medical personnel arrived but also found themselves locked out. Senior PPP/C figures, including Bharrat Jagdeo and Mark Phillips, later joined in banging on doors and demanding access.
According to him, eventually, Mingo emerged under police escort and exited the building through a back entrance, leaving Ramson unable to deliver the recount request.
When he returned the following day, the Ashmin’s Building was heavily barricaded. Ramson testified that he was again unable to reach Mingo directly and ultimately left the recount request with his clerk, Michelle Miller, who now also faces charges.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, argues that Mingo, along with several figures, played “critical roles” in attempts to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC coalition and deflate votes for the PPP/C.
Nine individuals are before the court on election fraud charges arising from the disputed 2020 General and Regional Elections.
They include former GECOM Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; and former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, who are, among other things, accused of abusing their authority during the Region Four tabulation process.
Also charged are former Health Minister in the previous APNU+AFC government Volda Lawrence, PNCR member Carol Smith-Joseph, and former GECOM staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb Cummings and Michelle Miller.
Collectively, they face 19 counts ranging from conspiracy to defraud to misconduct in public office, charges they all deny. They are all out on cash bail.
Although Lowenfield’s initial election report pointed to an APNU+AFC victory, the CARICOM-supervised recount confirmed a PPP/C win, clearing the way for Dr. Irfaan Ali to be sworn in as president on August 2, 2020.
The fallout has since led to the termination of Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo.
The trial resumes today before Acting Chief Magistrate McGusty.
