GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Yolanda Ward, told the court on Monday that she has no knowledge or evidence of the defendants in the 2020 elections fraud case colluding to rig or forge election documents.
Ward, who served as the Commission’s PRO in 2020, made the statement during cross-examination in the ongoing trial involving allegations surrounding the March 2, 2020 elections.
Asked whether she recalled or had any evidence of the defendants colluding to defraud or rig the 2020 elections or forging election documents, Ward answered: “No.”
She also said she had never seen the defendants Keith Lowenfield, Roxanne Myers, Clairmont Mingo or Carol Smith-Joseph forging election documents.
Ward was questioned about her role in the publication of election-related documents on GECOM’s website, including Form 24s containing results from the various electoral districts.
She testified that GECOM had a website for publishing election updates and that Aneal Giddings, who was then the Commission’s Information Technology Manager, was responsible for posting information to the site.
According to Ward, information was passed through GECOM’s chain of command, with instructions coming from the Chairman and Chief Election Officer. Lowenfield was the Chief Election Officer at the time.
Ward said she was tasked with preparing Form 24s for publication using lists submitted by the various Returning Officers.
She recalled that on March 14, 2020, an email was sent to Giddings requesting the removal of a previously posted Form 24 for District Four. Two new attachments were also sent.
Ward said she did not examine the attachments in detail but recalled that they contained signatures which appeared to be those of Returning Officers Clairmont Mingo and Volda Lawrence.
However, under cross-examination by attorney Eusi Anderson, Ward acknowledged that she did not know how the signatures came to be placed on the documents.
She was also asked who told her that the signatures were those of Mingo and Lawrence. Ward indicated that she did not know how the signatures were placed on the documents.
Ward further testified that she had no contact with the Returning Officers and instead frequently interacted with the Chairman.
She acknowledged that, procedurally, a declaration is made by a Returning Officer but said she did not know when a declaration was made for District Four.
Ward also said she did not recall any activity taking place on March 13, 2020, and had no interaction with any Returning Officer on that date.
She further told the court that, during the police investigation, she was never presented with any of the Form 24 documents to confirm them.
Giddings was later recalled to the witness stand and questioned about his role during the national recount.
Anderson objected when the prosecution sought to establish that Giddings had been assigned as a tabulator during the recount.
Anderson argued that there was no evidence of the assignment in Giddings’ statement and that he had not stated that he was nominated by the Chief Election Officer.
Giddings said he did not have the relevant documentation, explaining that it was in GECOM’s possession.
Under further examination, Giddings told the court that lists of candidates received on Nomination Day were forwarded to him by the Chief Election Officer.
He said his responsibility was to digitise those lists into a system and produce a detailed report.
Giddings said he had several other duties at GECOM, describing the list as an “exhausting” one.
He further testified that following the March 2, 2020 elections, he was responsible for the tabulation and digitisation of Statements of Poll, including creating electronic copies of the documents.
He said the hard copies would eventually make their way to Lowenfield’s office after passing through his office.
The trial centres on allegations arising from the conduct and tabulation of Guyana’s March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The nine defendants are former GECOM Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, former Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, Volda Lawrence, Carol Smith-Joseph, and former GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings.
They are facing charges arising from allegations that the results of the 2020 elections were manipulated, particularly during the tabulation and declaration process in Region Four.
The election process became the subject of a prolonged dispute following the March 2 vote, eventually leading to a national recount in May and June 2020. The recount produced results that differed from the figures declared by Mingo for Region Four and ultimately resulted in the PPP/C being declared the winner.
The criminal trial began in 2024 and has continued through a series of procedural developments and adjournments.
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