A full police investigation should be ordered to ascertain who did what, and by whose order

Dear Editor,

It is most unfortunate that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is revealed to be in a serious state of disarray on the day after the date of an election has finally been set. When the Chairman of GECOM, Claudette Singh, informed Caretaker President David Granger that credible elections could be held on or after the 24th February 2020, there was no dissent from the Opposition People’s Progressive Party; the date given was accepted with good grace, despite earlier promises from the Chair that her Commission and Secretariat were preparing for elections before the end of 2019.

On Friday, two erroneous bits of information caused chaos; a gazetted order for a Claims and Objections period of forty-nine days and which order also states that during this exercise, every person whose name appears on the preliminary list of electors must visit the registration office of their respective area and present an identification card to verify their registration record in order to be included in the official list of electors. These errors were repeated in a press release issued by GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Warde.

The Commission had met and decided upon thirty-five days of Claims and Objections; someone prepared an order with forty-nine days and this was signed by Claudette Singh. When the Chairman was informed by Commissioner Gunraj of the error, she promised to look into the matter.

A full police investigation should be ordered forthwith to ascertain who did what, when and by whose order.
The second erroneous bit of information is even more egregious, in asking six hundred and sixty thousand persons to visit twenty-four GECOM offices to verify their existence, identification and affirm their right to be on the Official List of Voters.

GECOM is breaking the law by attempting to have persons removed from the National Register of Registrants and in contempt of Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire who ruled, inter alia, that the removal of the names of persons already registered on the National Register of Registrants (NRR) on the ground of non-residency, is unlawful; that names can only be removed from the NRR in accordance with the National Registration Act (for example, by death, insanity, etc.); and that the scrapping of the existing database of registrants will be illegal in the case of Christopher Ram V GECOM and the Attorney General.

Given that a person or persons very high up in the GECOM Secretariat is/are engaged in duplicitous actions, Madame Chairman may also want to use her powers to hire new staffers and introduce watchful eyes on behalf of the citizenry within the Secretariat as a matter of urgency.

If credible evidence of improper or criminal conduct is found, dismissal of bad actors should occur.
Justice Singh should call on the international community, who has reaffirmed its commitment to assist Guyana and GECOM in every possible way to ensure free and fair elections come March 2, 2020.

Respectfully,
Robin Singh