Vice President (VP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has emphasized that while the government is adamant that Local Government Elections (LGE) must be held in 2021, those “criminal” elements from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must be removed.
During an engagement with the press last Friday, the VP was keen to point out that COVID-19 or not, he has high hopes that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be victorious in those LGEs. To this he said, “We believe that we can do extremely well in the Local Government Elections and we’re going to be working really hard to ensure that we improve the lives of people in their communities right across this country.”
Having said this, however, the VP emphasized that the PPP/C has “no confidence” in those “criminals” running the GECOM.
“And so,” Dr. Jagdeo said to the media, “We’re expecting that the Commission will get rid of the criminals. They don’t need any evidence. The whole country knows who these criminals are; those hardcore, in-yuh-face type of criminals who tried to steal the elections and put this country through trauma.”
Because of the PPP/C’s lack of confidence in these shady characters, the VP hopes that the GECOM Chair, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, will “fight against the criminals by removing them from their post.
Notably, there are criminal charges for misconduct in office up against GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield; Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; Region Four Returning Officer (RO), Clairmont Mingo; Information Technology Officer, Enrique Livan, as well as other GECOM staffer, Shefferon February.
Next year’s budget, government has assured, will have resources to prepare for Local Government Elections.
