GECOM is currently conducting a continuous registration exercise that is due to wrap up at the end of the year, at which point the processes for the preparation of the voters’ list will begin.
According to Deputy Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, around 20,000 new registrations have been processed since the start of the exercise. However, he disclosed that the commission remains short of its registration target, owing to the number of eligible persons who do not have source documents, and in particular birth certificates.
Lowenfield explained that the commission has expanded the registration exercise through 134 offices that have been set up countrywide and he said it has been satisfactory since the start of the process. He said registering school children eligible for placement on the national register of registrants has been the easiest part of the process.
At the same time too, he said, the commission has also been engaged in mobile registration in areas in regions one, two, three, six, eight and nine that are too remote to be served by any of the commission’s offices and it is planning to make “a final pass” in December in some areas it has already covered. However, Lowenfield said, a common problem in many areas, and particularly in the hinterland, is persons without birth certificates. He pointed out that in some instances even school children were found not to have birth certificates. “It’s a crying shame but we don’t have responsibility for that,” he said. He added that while the General Registrar’s Office (GRO) issues birth certificates for registered births, most of the births in some areas are not registered.
Lowenfield also said that GECOM is also continuing the National Identification Card distribution. In May, GECOM had informed that over 90,000 cards were still to be uplifted from registration offices countrywide and it urged “truant registrants” to collect theirs before the old cards are decommissioned. Lowenfield said that as of the end of last month, the figure was down to 60,331. He said people have been coming forward and the commission is also taking advantage of mobile registration to distribute cards as well. He said too that in addition to replacing lost cards, the commission has been replacing cards with defective photographs.
Meanwhile, chief opposition scrutineer Amna Ally told Stabroek News that the ongoing registration process is proceeding smoothly so far. When asked about reports from scrutineers, Ally said the process has not seen too many glitches and there does not appear to be anything that would affect it. Ally said that since the start of the exercise, the PNCR has been conducting outreaches to communities to encourage persons to register and a common problem has been a lack of source documents.
Late
However, Ally said her main concern is the continued late payments to scrutineers who are monitoring the process for the political parties. “Scrutineers are not being paid in a timely fashion,” Ally said, noting that they received payments for September “very late” while payments for October remain outstanding. She added that the delay is especially harsh on Deputy Chief Scrutineers whom she said have to make sacrifices to get the job done.
The late payment to scrutineers, who have repeatedly vented about the lapses publicly, has been blamed on the Finance Ministry’s tardiness in releasing funds to GECOM. In part the issue has contributed to concerns about GECOM’s independent functioning, which was recently highlighted following a directive to the body by Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon on the placement of ads.
A GECOM official told Stabroek News that apart from any inefficiency in poll preparations, the government’s control of GECOM’s finances puts the executive in a position to call the shots. Further, the official noted that there are instances in past and particularly in the run up to the last election where the executive facilitated breaches of regulations for procurement, in order to meet the deadline for the holding of the polls. The official added that the executive is now criticising GECOM for continuing with the “bad habits” that it previously facilitated. Added to that, the official noted that there were some operations, and especially in remote areas, where the commission would have to make on the spot decisions that could later be called into question as irregularities.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that GECOM will be provided with all the resources it needs to conduct the elections once it abides by the laws governing procurement. On the latter point he has repeatedly criticised GECOM for single sourcing in its procurement of elections materials and services.
Meanwhile, like Ally, AFC chief scrutineer David Patterson said that his party has been satisfied with the registration process and he noted that the commission has been very helpful to the party.
However, he said the party’s concerns over GECOM being given the finances to carry out its plans. “Anything that will delay the election is a concern to the AFC,” he said, while citing GECOM’s financial difficulties.
