Former GECOM Commissioner and former Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn engaged in a tense back-and-forth with Defence Counsel Nigel Hughes on Today as he was pressed over discrepancies he said he observed during the 2020 election tabulation at Ashmin’s Building.
The exchanges prompted repeated interventions from Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty, who instructed Benn to answer the questions put to him and cautioned him about his manner in the witness box.
At several points, Benn sought to give explanations beyond the questions being asked, prompting Hughes to press him for direct answers. The court repeatedly reminded Benn to answer the specific questions.
Benn, at one point, told Hughes, “you’re wasting my time,” while the questioning also saw him challenge counsel over how many times he had been asked to answer the same issue.
McGusty intervened and warned Benn about speaking over counsel and engaging in exchanges with the lawyer, reminding him that his role was to answer questions rather than question Defence Counsel.
The tension arose as Hughes questioned Benn about discrepancies he said he had observed between figures displayed during the tabulation and figures contained on Statements of Poll.
Benn ultimately acknowledged that he had not personally documented the discrepancies. He also could not recall a single specific mismatched number when Hughes pressed him on what he had observed.
Benn further said he had not instructed then Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield or another GECOM official to conduct an audit of the information entered during the tabulation. He said he had instead asked Lowenfield to have the discrepancies and issues “sorted out.”
Despite the contentious exchanges, Benn also gave evidence about the functioning of GECOM during the tabulation, describing the Commission as “not fully functional” at various points.
He said GECOM was divided and that although directions were given by the Chair, they were sometimes not followed.
Benn testified that he raised complaints at Commission meetings about several aspects of the conduct of the elections and the responses of political parties and their agents, but he could not say whether those complaints were recorded in the Commission’s minutes.
He also recalled a contentious meeting at Ashmin’s Building which broke up in disarray after the Chair indicated that she wanted to leave to meet overseas agency and embassy representatives. Benn said there was no further deliberation after the Chair’s departure.
The trial continues before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
