CARICOM High-level team flown in on military aircraft

The high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that has been appointed to oversee a national recount of ballots cast in the March 02 elections arrived in Guyana Saturday evening aboard a Caribbean military aircraft.

“The Caricom Counting team arrived in Guyana last night aboard a Caribbean military aircraft,” said Gerry Gouevia, chairman of the private sector commission and owned of Roraima Airways.

“The Roraima Ground handling team met the Caribbean Military Aircraft and facilitate and process the arrival of the passengers into Guyana and the subsequent departure of the aircraft for its return flight back to Barbados,” Gouevia via stated in a Facebook post.

The team was assembled by Mia Mottley, Barbados Prime Minister and Chair of CARICOM, at the request of President David Granger with the agreement of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

The team comprises: Francine Baron, Foreign Affairs Minister and Former Attorney General of Dominica; Mr. Anthony Boatswain, former Minister of Finance of Grenada; Ms. Cynthia Barrow-Giles, Senior Lecturer in Department of Government of UWI; and the Chief Elections Officers of Barbados and Trinidad.

The team was invited in after a highly contentious vote count in Region Four, which local and international observers say were not transparent.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which is managing the process, Saturday evening decided it would wait for the team’s arrival and meet with them and decide on the way forward.

“As decided at GECOM last evening, I expect to be summoned to a meeting this morning to put arrangements in place, so that this team can commence its work…,” said Sase Gunraj, one of GECOM’s Commissioners. Writing on Facebook, he said he expected this would be done “in short order!”

He stated: “The nation is waiting….as it deserves a timely resolution to this imbroglio that has consumed us for much longer than it should!

The Chairperson of GECOM, Justice Claudette Singh on Saturday gave an undertaking to Chief Justice Madame Roxane George, that she would facilitate the recounting of the ballots for Region 4.

She said that commitment has now been bolstered with the request the CARICOM independent high-level team to supervise the recount of the ballots for District One to District Ten.

“I welcome this initiative and would assure everyone, that GECOM will cooperate fully with the process,” she stated.