GECOM must produce a credible voters’ list now!

Dear Editor,

As we quickly approach September 18, 2019, tensions are skyrocketing across our nation in reaction to the wanton lawlessness of the PNCR push for a state of emergency in Guyana. Our citizens are Guyanese who are worried about the future of the nation, even as the widely unacceptable and condemned House-to-House Registration has led to a most confused and unauthorised situation with no verification being done.

To conduct the activities, the GECOM Secretariat selected numerous biased PNC enumerators who proved to be outrageously deficient, given the limited training provided. Under the PNC orchestrator’s wicked delaying scheme, the chosen enumerators along with multiple PNC scrutineers rushed into action to counter the immediacy of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) upholding that the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) was properly passed in the Guyana National Assembly on December 21, 2018.

Combined with the absence of Opposition scrutineers, who were deliberately excluded by CEO Keith Lowenfield, the concocted plans resulted in threats of charges and prosecution to citizens who did not register. They were threatening the residents with the present ID card becoming non-commissioned and the need to get register to obtain a new ID card. Some citizens were wrongly placed to sit on the benches in the police stations and in the lock-ups while the cahoots used the police to force others to report to the stations, yet nobody was charged.

This was the wicked, disgraceful, and anti-social behaviour of some enumerators, who were clearly not fit and proper for the conduct of any House-to-House activity. Their lackadaisical attitude contributed to their woeful and unprofessional conduct when dealing with registrants, which led to numerous rejections. It cannot be, therefore, seen or reasoned on any front that such biased and unqualified approach which lacks validation of additions to the National Register of Registrants, would earn the confidence and respect of Guyanese citizens.

Further, there are numerous additional questions which taint the Lowenfield-PNC design in this instance and further informing the need for the highly credible and proven approach of the Claims and Objections. Why is more than ninety per cent of GECOM’s staff one ethnic origin? Who gave permission for the GECOM Secretariat to recruit temporary and permanent staff at GECOM?

It is clear to all Guyanese that it is the Commission, which has the responsibility to employ all staff at GECOM, and the Commission was not in a place to address these matters at the time Lowenfield usurped the authority of the Commission.

With less than two weeks before the deadline for Regional and National Elections, the Commission must be supportive to the Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, who clearly has some very difficult but necessary decisions to make in upholding Guyana’s Constitution. It is indeed very disappointing to observe the Secretariat recommending March 2020 as the proposed period for the holding of General and Regional Elections.

It is unbelievable that at the last statutory meeting, held on Tuesday, the issues on the table included fingerprint cross-matching of persons registered under the Lowenfield House-to-House activity; the possible printing of National Identification Cards and the preparation of a Preliminary Voters’ List. In fact, the merger of data from the highly controversial and unverified House-to-House Registration is a recipe for serious challenges and it is all because the APNU and Granger, in particular, are dodging and delaying the imminent Regional and National Elections.

The PPP Commissioners at GECOM should continue to be resilient and strong to carry their argument for elections at the earliest, knowing that it was due since March this year. The ID card printing seems to be the next area the caretaker Government is holding strong to, in further delaying the process. One hundred and forty-four days to print ID cards is total absurdity and Madam Justice Retired, Claudette Singh, is expected to make firm decisions in this regard

to establish a clean list in the shortest possible time.
Let it be known that after September 18, 2019, there will be no cover for the illegal Ministers, sadly prompting a total disintegration of norms in our dear land.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar