The truth hurts, Mottley says, but CARICOM must never avoid the truth

Chairperson of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley has responded to criticisms of her statement that the results of the national vote recount should be used to declare the winner of the March 2 elections in Guyana.

“The truth hurts,” Mottley said in response to a question at a press conference in Bridgetown, Barbados on Friday, about the pushback she received in response to her comments on the local elections.

“The truth hurts, I have nothing more to say.

“But what we must never do in CARICOM is avoid the truth and avoid our principles.”

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has led the Government’s side in expressing disappointment with the stance taken by the CARICOM chair.

He expressed sentiments of the Coalition that the CARICOM three-member team which scrutinized the recount only conducted limited scrutiny of the ballots and submitted a report.

Nagamootoo said that the statement by Prime Minister Mottley relied on the recount without the figures produced being reviewed. This is despite the CARICOM team’s report indicating that “it was not just a mere recount but an audit, like a forensic audit looking at everything.”

The Chairperson of CARICOM in a statement on Wednesday expressed shock at what she described as the bizarre elections process in Guyana in which the Chief Elections Officer dumped over 115,000 votes as being invalid and did not include them in his election report.

Mottley had said: “We have seen a level of gamesmanship that has left much to be desired and has definitely not portrayed our Caribbean region in the best light. This is definitely NOT our finest hour and we MUST NOT shy away from that reality.”

She said the Community holds the strong view that no voter must be disenfranchised in determining the credibility of this or any election.

CARICOM was described as the “most legitimate interlocutor” in the national vote recount by President David Granger.