Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has warned that Guyana’s democracy remains under threat, accusing political opponents of being unwilling to respect the will of the people.
Addressing hundreds of residents at a large outdoor public meeting in Enterprise, East Coast Demerara, on Monday evening, AG Nandlall drew a stark comparison between Guyana’s electoral history and recent events and urged citizens to be vigilant.
“Your right to vote was stolen from you in 1968, 1980, 1985… it was only restored in 1992. Guyana was a basket case, we were all destroyed as a people, that was what the lack of democracy did, and those who stole democracy from us are still prepared to do it,” he emphasised.
The AG further highlighted the opposition’s attempts to rig the 2020 general elections, referencing the illegal appointment of a GECOM chairman and an illegal house-to-house registration exercise, which he said would have disenfranchised thousands of citizens.
“We had to go to court and remove him. Then they tried to scrap the national list; if we didn’t fight, we would have lost before a single vote was cast,” he asserted.
AG Nandlall reflected on the PPP/C’s conduct in 2015 when the party lost the elections.
“We felt that we won, but we accepted defeat because that is what democratic principles dictate, that is how civilised people behave. We packed up, and within two days, we gave them the government, and we hit the streets and started to work to regain your support.”
“Not once did we block roads, not once did we try to steal anything because we respect the rules of the game and if you don’t respect the rules of the game, then you destroy yourself and your country,” he said.
Contrasting that with the post-2020 election, the attorney general said that when the opposition realised it had lost based on the statements of poll, it launched a campaign of misinformation and chaos.
“Rather than accept their sins, seek repentance, or offer contrition, they are still saying they won,” he told the gathering. “Up to now, they can’t produce their statements of poll.”
He called on citizens to reject what he described as “deception and dotishness” and to prepare to “expel them from the game” starting on September 1.
The Attorney General also emphasised national unity as the cornerstone of the PPP/C’s development agenda.
“We cannot take this country to its full potential unless we unite all the people… and this election, more than any other in our history, we are closest to achieving that elusive national unity,” he said.
