The strict measures implemented to safeguard Guyana against the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is the sole reason behind Government not clearing the Carter Center Observer Mission to return for the ongoing national recount of ballots.

President David Granger

During a rare appearance yesterday, his first in almost two months, President Granger told journalists that the Carter Center should respect the decision his administration has taken. He also asked that the public health situation be considered before new requests are made.
The President referenced the partial countrywide curfew implemented in March to restrict travel and public gatherings as a response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. That number now stands at 117.
“This was followed up on April 3. And this was followed up every single week. The Ministers, not as a Cabinet but as Council, meet to deliberate on those measures and we take those measures very seriously.”
“We are very careful, and we ask people to respect the emergency measures which have been implemented by the Government of Guyana,” the Head of State told the media.
May 15 marked the third time that the Carter Center Observer Team had been denied permission to enter Guyana. After being refused on their second attempt, the National COVID-19Task Force Task Force gave the mission renewed hope after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joseph Harmon relayed that the team could reapply. He however stated that their application must “go through the right process.”
The same was done with requests coming from United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, and to five Senators of the United States who called for the Carter Center’s return.
In two letters addressed to the above stakeholders, Foreign Affairs Minister Karen Cummings who wrote on behalf President David Granger, explicitly stated that “…it may not be possible for the Carter Center and the IRI Advisor to participate in the overseeing of the recount of the votes cast on the 2nd March General and Regional Elections which as you are aware had already commenced.”
Providing justification for the move, Cummings cited the travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 virus.
Against the backdrop of multiple flights bringing in over one hundred oil sector workers however, allegations surfaced that Government was using the pandemic as an excuse. These claims were bluntly rejected by the Head of State.
“COVID is not an excuse. COVID is a reality. And we don’t have to use COVID, a pandemic, which has already killed thousands of people all around the world as an excuse. It is not, you know, something whimsical. It is not bad weather. It’s a fatal disease and it’s not an empty excuse that we have invented.”
“I don’t understand that any country in the world could use COVID as an excuse. COVID is the worst public health crisis for 100 years. That’s not an excuse.”
President Granger maintained that, “What the Minister of Foreign Affairs has written and spoken is Government policy. And I would like people to respect what she has done, and abide by the measures which the Government of Guyana has implemented.”
“We know that the Carter Center are friends of Guyana. We don’t have any problem with the Carter Center, or with the EU or with the OAS, or with any observer mission that we welcomed to Guyana. But since the second of March, the public health situation changed drastically, all around the world.”
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had claimed that the six-member CARICOM team would not be sufficient to “scrutinize” the ongoing recount process but the President expressed full confidence in the team.
“The CARICOM team is competent and I am very confident that the work that they will do is up to international standards.