GECOM never intended to mail ID cards to registrants nor will the commission ever go in this direction, for obvious reasons, Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally has said.
PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke raised this matter at a recent meeting between party representatives and Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials. Clarke made reference to what he called a “rumour” that GECOM intends to mail the ID cards to the respective registrants who were yet to collect theirs, and enquired whether this would in fact be done. However, Dr Surujbally made it abundantly clear that GECOM will not be going in this direction and he invited Clarke to assist in dispelling the rumour.
Meanwhile, Clarke has said that his party is supportive of the work being done by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in preparation for the upcoming General and Regional Elections.
According to a GECOM press release, this assurance was given during a meeting between a team of PNCR representatives and GECOM Officials on Monday at the commission’s premises.
The meeting, which was held at the request of the PNCR, was intended to clarify and draw attention to certain matters connected with the recent cycle of Continuous Registration and the General and Regional Elections, 2011.
The GECOM team comprised Dr. Steve Surujbally, Chairman; Commissioners Vincent Alexander, Dr. Keshav Mangal, Moen McDoom, Mohamood Shaw, and Robert Williams; Gocool Boodoo, Chief Election Officer; Calvin Benn, Deputy Chief Election Officer; Keith Lowenfield, Assistant Chief Election Officer; and Vishnu Persaud, Public Relations Officer.
The PNCR team comprised Clarke, Amna Ally and Ernest Elliot.
During the meeting the PNCR General Secretary pointed out that the party had been doing its share in trying to motivate persons who had not as yet uplifted their ID cards by using the Registration Areas lists of such persons which had been prepared by GECOM and shared with the parliamentary political parties.
Clarke said he was concerned, however, that the PNCR had not received the list of persons from the South Georgetown Registration Areas. Acknowledging that the lists for all of the other Registration Areas had already been given to his party, he said that the receipt of this outstanding list would enable the PNCR to encourage the relevant persons to collect their ID cards.
Boodoo assured the PNCR team that the list of persons from the South Georgetown Registration Areas who had not as yet uplifted their ID cards was not given to the PNCR because it was still being prepared. This task had been delayed because of more urgent work associated with the recently concluded Cycle of Continuous Registration.
The outstanding list was expected to be ready by February 9, and then it would have been made available to the party soon thereafter.
Clarke said that the PNCR was also concerned about the large number of persons who could not apply for registration, either because they were not in possession of their birth certificates or their births were never registered, hence they were never issued birth certificates.
Surujbally informed the PNCR that GECOM was aware that there are thousands of people who would be of voting age, but who could not apply for registration because they were/are not in possession of birth certificates, since their births were never registered.
Consequently, GECOM had raised this matter at several levels, including with the Minister of Home Affairs and with the General Registrar. Further, GECOM had emphasized that the applications for birth certificates be treated with more alacrity by the General Register Office.
This thrust was expected to stimulate the registration of the births of the concerned persons so that they could be issued birth certificates to be used to apply for registration. To date, the commission’s representations have not brought about the desired results although almost 3 ½ years have elapsed since GECOM’s initial and repeated initiatives, the release stated.
Dr. Surujbally recalled that all of the parliamentary political parties had agreed that only original birth certificates and valid passports, along with supporting documents, e.g. marriage certificates, deed polls etc, would be accepted as source documents for registration. The objective of this agreement was to ensure that only persons who met the eligibility criteria would be registered.
The parties had agreed that baptismal certificates, expired passports, photocopies of relevant documents or letters from priests, elders, headmasters, village captains/toshaos and justices of the peace or existing ID cards will not be acceptable as source documents for registration.
Clarke assured the chairman that the PNCR continues to support this principle.
Both teams also discussed some minor administrative hiccups which surfaced during the Continuous Registration exercise, and agreed that proactive undertakings would ensure that they do not recur.
In closing remarks Surujbally and Clarke agreed that GECOM and the PNCR would meet more often and work collaboratively towards enhancing credibility associated with the preparations for and the conduct of the 2011 elections, the release concluded.
