2020 elections a defining moment for leadership
─ Ministers reflect on events of March 2
Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill said the General and Regional elections of March 2, 2020 was a defining moment for leadership, a moment in time that showed Guyana and the rest of the world kind of leadership was needed to take the country forward.
He said there was need for ‘good leadership’ leading up to, during, and after the elections.
Minister Edghill played an integral role during the five months where the world watched as the then APNU+AFC Government attempted to steal the elections using all the ‘tricks up their sleeves’ and which were all documented.
Minister Edghill said, “if at that first attempt [Keith] Lowenfield and [Clairmont] Mingo were able to intermingle those fictitious numbers of Region Four and join it to those other returning officers and make a general declaration, you could cry foul however you want once that declaration was made.”
Minister Edghill, along with Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, M.P, and Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy, M.P, were being interviewed on the two-year anniversary of the elections on Thursday.
The public works minister said peace and development are ‘inseparable twins’ and that the business environment must be predictable, which means there must be people who observe the rule of law. For that reason, he said the events of 2020 must never recur on Guyana’s soil.
“In terms of electoral reform, the one thing that every decent law abiding, democratic Guyanese need to sign on to is a principle that says what happened must never happen again, and let us put mechanisms in place to make sure they never happen again. And if anybody ever attempts to do that, you must find yourself in a jail because you are not good for the democratic process of this country, you must be penalised,” Minister Edghill noted.
Former Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield and former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo among others, are before the courts facing charges of electoral fraud.
Meanwhile, Minister McCoy echoed the sentiments of Minister Edghill. He said the government of the day portrays the kind of leadership the people of Guyana voted for on March 2.
“We believe, as we have demonstrated, that we have the right leadership in Guyana, to be able to take us to where we will all be prosperous, successful, socially just, making sure that there is equity in the distribution of the wealth and resources and that is what matters to most Guyanese and that is what we promised them. We will work hard and work hard every day to deliver those things to the people of Guyana,” Minister McCoy stated.
He said government is promoting the ‘One Guyana’ concept in light of the fact that all Guyanese are deserving of the benefits of government services. He said the three budgets passed by the PPP/C government were aimed at ensuring the people benefit at every level.
Minister Parag had also played an integral role in the recount process of the election. She said after enduring everything the coalition tried during that period, it is satisfying to be able to serve the people of Guyana. She said the hallmark of the PPP/C has always been the welfare of Guyanese.
“Transformation does not happen overnight. Money is continuously being placed in the budget in different sectors to enable people from all walks of life and all categories of persons from every region to benefit equitably from the transformation. Whether it be infrastructure, education, healthcare, social issues, everyone will benefit equitably and that is something Guyanese should be excited about… ultimately, this development is for the betterment of Guyanese lives,” the minister stated.
March 2, 2022 marked two years since the 2020 elections were held before the PPP/C Administration took office on August 2.