Fmr. President of Liberia warns of devastating effects for Guyana if will of the people not respected

A former President of Liberia and a Nobel Peace prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has warned of devastating effects for Guyana if there is no speedy conclusion to the ongoing four-month-long elections process here.

Sirleaf, who served as Liberia’s 24^th President and who is also a member of the powerful group ‘The Elders’ founded by Nelson Mandela, on Wednesday reiterated that the group is satisfied that the will of the people was reflected in the March 2, 2020 elections and the national vote recount which showed a victory for Guyana’s opposition party.

She warned that if there are protests across the country because the will of the people is not respected, then there could be chaos and rippling effects for Guyana.

“When that doesn’t happen you cannot control events that would follow because those who conclude that their vote has not been respected will show resistance, sometimes we have to ensure that that resistance is peaceful but no one has control over what happens,” she said during a Zoom interview with Zulfikar Ali, the President of the local chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce.

According to Sirleaf, protests can transcend into dissatisfaction and disillusionment.

“It transcends into people feeling ‘my future has been taken away from me because my vote has not been allowed’ and you’re dealing here with the majority of the people, it’s a recipe for disaster,” she warned.

According to the Nobel Peace prize winner, the internal fight in Guyana will invite external groups to interfere in the work of the country.

“That also invites external groups to come in to penetrate the workings of Government and to take over and then the State loses total control of the management of its resources, of its responses to its people.”

She urged the political leaders in Guyana to cooperate and let the country move on.

“It is a situation that anyone who loves their country, anyone who is interested in the development of their country must do all they can to avoid these tensions, disagreements in elections.

“My appeal to the authorities who manage the affairs of Guyana, my appeal to the people of Guyana please see your country and the progress it has made in these last few years and protect it. Please do not see this situation digress into violence, into destruction because once you get on that path, it’s so difficult to control it and you never know what the final consequences will be.”

She warned that any elections violence will only result in the suffering of the Guyanese people.

“You will cause your own people to suffer, you will cause lasting effects to peoples’ moral, to peoples’ will…to your supporters on the outside who have done everything to get you to this place of progress that will finally see you as being self-destructive.”

The former Liberian President pleaded with the politicians here to see “Guyana bigger than the politics.”

Four months after Guyanese went to the polls, a winner is yet to be cleared as the result, which shows a victory for the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), has been tied up in legal battles.

The governing APNU+AFC Coalition has refused to concede defeat.