Cheaters never prosper, liars never win

Mar 19, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Chairman of the Caribbean Community, Mia Mottley, has indicated in a statement that there are ‘forces’ within Guyana that do not want a recount of the votes for whatever reason. She said that the High Level team, which she had assembled was withdrawing.
This statement effectively signals the end of the Caricom’s involvement to resolve the crisis, which had emerged following the controversial declaration of the results of District 4 of the General and Regional Elections. Guyana is now on its own.
The Caribbean Community is not going to be made a fool. The Community has not been deceived by the shenanigans employed by GECOM and by elements of the APNU+AFC. It has washed its hands of any further involvement in this matter.
The Caribbean Community did not leave the door open for any continued involvement in resolving the elections impasse. Even though Mottley’s statement ended on the note that the Community remains committed to Guyana, this is a mere diplomatic pleasantry. A careful reading of the statement does not provide any hope that the Community will reengage in attempting to resolve the elections crisis.
It is now left to be seen how the Community will treat with an illegitimate President. The Community, like the other international observers, is clear on one point; it says that any government, which is sworn in without a credible and fully transparent vote count process would lack legitimacy.
However, there is a world of difference between accepting that a government is illegitimate and taking action against that government within the rules of the Caribbean Community. There is no democracy clause within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that can be used to expel Guyana. And the Community does not have such a tradition. It has never expelled or suspended any of its member states.
Eugenia Charles, the former Prime Minister of Dominica, was keen on kicking Guyana out of CARICOM after the rigged elections of 1985. It is not clear what mechanism she would have used to do so. However, the other leaders persuaded her not to move in this direction.
The Community, as a grouping, has always been comfortable with seating dictators within its midst. It turned a blind eye of the excesses of Forbes Burnham and, in 1985 whitewashed the rigging of elections by Desmond Hoyte.
At a special summit at Mustique in 1986, the then Caricom leaders made a deal with Hoyte, which allowed for muted condemnation. Twelve years ago, the former Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sir James Mitchell, explained the deal that was made with Hoyte. He said that the leaders urged Hoyte to agree to regional and international observers for future elections and to give the opposition some political space.
Given the strong sentiments, which have been expressed this time around by some regional leaders, including by the present Chairman, no similar deal with an illegitimate President seems likely. But equally no decision is likely to be made to suspend Guyana from the organs of the Community. The fact that the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community is located in Georgetown makes such a decision even more remote.
Yet, there remains a basis upon which the leaders of the Caribbean Community can denounce Guyana and prevent the representation of an illegitimate government within its organs. The first article of the Charter of Civil Society of the Community reads:
“The States shall ensure the existence of a fair and open democratic system through the holding of free elections at reasonable intervals, by secret ballot, underpinned by an electoral system in which all can have confidence and which will ensure the free expression of the will of the people in the choice of their representatives.” This is the closest thing to a democratic clause in the Caribbean Community.
Guyana will escape sanctions from Caricom. But the same cannot be said for the rest of the world. Guyana is now likely to be expelled from the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth.
The country faces imminent international isolation and the imposition of targeted sanctions against government officials and their families. The oil revenues, which everyone is looking forward to, will not end up in the hands of an illegitimate government. Already, the decline in oil prices caused by the coronavirus has wiped out an estimated one third of the anticipated revenues for this year.
Just prior to the decision of the Caricom High-Level team to withdraw, the US Secretary of State, considered the second most powerful person in the world, made it clear that those who benefit from fraudulent elections will face serious consequences. If the APNU+AFC cannot dissect this diplomatic language, then someone had better do it for them.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)