– Had access to SOPs from all regions, including Reg. 4
– Was sent to recount center to engage GECOM chair
“We all operated out of that Lamaha Street building together, but she had higher clearance than even me. She was very close to Harmon and Amna. Geeta knows exactly what went on in that 2020 election. If there was indeed any rigging, trust me, Geeta knows; she saw the numbers.
That is the testimony of an APNU+AFC loyalist who spoke to Guyana Standard moments ago on the grounds of anonymity.
The recollection of what went on in the 2020 General and Regional Elections was made after People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo mounted defense for the crossover politicians now in the PPP camp.
At his press conference earlier today, a Stabroek News reporter asked Jagdeo about the party’s welcoming of new members who were involved in efforts to rig the 2020 elections, efforts that Jagdeo and his party vigorously condemned.
Jagdeo reasoned that the persons who have since joined the PPP camp were not part of the cabal responsible for the undermining of democracy back in 2020. Despite the fact that they stayed with their party five years after the rigging allegations were laid, Jagdeo sought to paint the crossover politicians as pious witnesses to the attempted erosion of democracy, causing the nation to suffer for five months in the height of the pandemic.
Jagdeo suggested that these members, like thousands of other Guyanese, were simply dupped by their leaders. He said that his quarrel is not with them but with people like David Patterson from the Alliance for Change (AFC) who saw the Statements of Poll (SOPs) and said that they represented an electoral victory for the coalition. “Those are the kinds of people I am talking about.”
Jagdeo went further to say, “A lot of the people coming to us were not part of the inner circle that was trying to rig the election but they were supportive of their party.”
This goes contrary to the account given by the APNU+AFC source. While not admitting what the world has come to believe is true, the source told Guyana Standard that if indeed the coalition attempted to obfuscate the will of the people, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, who later became General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), is well aware of those attempts; “she had front row seat.”
The source said that Chandan-Edmond was somewhat of an emissary for the APNU during that campaign and election season, being very close to the likes of former government officials Joseph Harmon and the now deceased Amna Ali.
The source, who has since withdrawn from intimacy with the party, recalled when Chandan-Edmond was sent to the recount center to engage Chairwoman of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), Claudette Singh.
“I can tell you this, Geeta was very close to operations and played an integral role at a very high level. There was a point, during the 33 days of recount, when Geeta was sent by Harmon to the recount center to engage Claudette on a matter and she went,” the source said.
The source recalled seeing Geeta on a daily basis at the Lamaha street building that the APNU+AFC used as its central operation center. Guyana Standard was made to understand that all SOPs from regions across Guyana was sent to that location. “Geeta would have seen and had access to all those SOPs, including those from Region Four that were eventually kept by Amna. Geeta knows the numbers.”
The source said that other crossover candidates, Daniel Seeram and Samuel Sandy also had important roles in 2020, “but nothing as close to Geeta. Seeram was a tabulation agent during the recount and he was in charge of security during campaign, election day and the days after. Samuel was a counting agent in the recount as well and he was a campaign manager for East Coast.”
The source sought to point out a trend of behavior for Chandan-Edmond where she latches on to power, no matter who posses it. It was highlighted, “She was close to us, she was very close to Harmon and Amna but when there was the fallout with Harmon dem when Norton took over, she did not take the principal position and pull away like her so-called mentors. Geeta stayed and became Norton’s General Secretary. Now she with the PPP, woe beyond to them.”
