Dear Editor,
I would like to bring to the attention of the Guyanese public that after doing a fan-out exercise on behalf of the Alliance for Change, I found that many young people who ought to be voting for the first time are not registered.
I have done work on the entire Barama River from Santa Cruz, to Waikarebi, Chinese Landing, Kokerite, and Kariako. I have also done work in Santa Rosa where I found some people registered who had received their ID cards, but that these contained many errors. This information was brought to the attention of the Gecom local region representative, but there has been very little progress to date.
What the Indigenous brothers and sisters are telling me is that Gecom would come but the notice period to the village and mission was inadequate, resulting in a low turn-out to the registration centres. Most people have to walk an average of 8-10 miles, or travel long distances by boat to get to the Gecom officers. Because of the short notice, people just did not bother to come out since they have to work for a living.
This administrative approach by Gecom causes people to opt-out of the process of getting involved in democracy.
I call on Gecom to look into this matter, which is affecting people’s right to vote, especially the right of our Indi-genous people.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Atkinson
AFC National Executive
Region 1
Editor’s note
We sent a copy of this letter to Mr Vishnu Persaud, the Public Relations Officer of Gecom, for any comment he might wish to make, and received the following response:
“Thank you for affording us the opportunity to respond to the allegations penned by Mr Mark Atkinson in his letter to you.
“At the outset, it must be categorically noted that the assertions of Mr Atkinson have been found to be grossly erroneous and can only be seen as an attempt to cast doubts on the work of the Guyana Elections Commission in respect to preparations for General and Regional Elections 2011.
“Mr Atkinson raises several so called concerns which I would address individually as follows:-
“Mr Atkinson stated that he did a fan out exercise on behalf of the Alliance for Change, and found that many young people, who ought to be voting for the first time, are not registered. Gecom is aware that there are thousands of young people who would be of voting age, with respect to the upcoming elections, who could not apply for registration because they were/are not in possession of birth certificates, since their births were never registered. In fact, we had determined during the conduct of the 2008 house-to-house registration exercise that the extent of this problem is not restricted to Amerindians only. Consequently, Gecom raised this matter at several levels not lastly with the Minister of Home Affairs and with the General Registrar. The objective behind this thrust was to bring about a suitable resolution with the result being 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, our representations have not borne the desired fruits.
“Mr Atkinson claimed that he did work on the entire Barama River from Santa Cruz, to Waikerebi, Chinese Landing, Kokerite, and Kariako, and also in Santa Rosa and found some people registered who had received their ID cards but with many errors. He documented that this information was brought to the attention of the Gecom Regional Representative and there had been very little progress to date. Mr Atkinson further claimed that ‘…Indigenous brothers and sisters are telling me is that Gecom would come, but the notice period to the village and missions was inadequate, resulting in a low turn-out to the registration centres.’ He said that most people have to walk an average of 8-10 miles or to travel long distances by boat to get to the Gecom officers, and that because of the short notice, people just do not ‘bother to come out since they have to work for a living.’
Yours truly researched the statements made by Mr Atkinson by contacting Mr Trevor Harris, Registration Officer of the Moruca Registration Office. Mr Harris provided the following information:-
“1. There was one instance of a male registrant complaining that he was born on a date other than that which was reflected on his ID card. He was requested to bring in his birth certificate which substantiated the birth date on the ID card to be accurate. The registrant was wrong and Gecom was right.
“2. No less than two weeks’ notice was given to these villages through the respective village Toshaos informing them about the impending visit by mobile registration teams to register eligible persons from the respective villages.
“3. It is expected that there would always be cases where a potential registrant might be out of his area of residence during a registration exercise. However, all eligible persons who were in possession of their source documents who were present at the time of the respective visits to the named communites were registered.
“4. Mr Harris emphasized that Santa Cruz to Waikarebi, Chinese Landing, Kokerite and Kariako are all villages along the Barama River. He is not aware of instances of persons having to walk an average of 8-10 miles or to travel long distances by boat to become registered insofar as these villages are concerned.
“5. The Gecom Area Registration Office is located at Santa Rosa and could have been accessed by potential registrants throughout the period of the continuous registration exercise to apply for registration.
“Let it be clear that it is not enough to bring the matter of incorrect information to the attention of Gecom officials. Concerned persons are required to apply for corrections as the case might be. Further, we had repeatedly stated via the media that the commission was not treating with applications for corrections, name changes and transfers during the recently concluded cycle of continuous registration. This will be done during the Claims and Objections exercise for the 2011 elections. Mr Atkinson would be well advised to pass this information on accordingly.
“In view of the foregoing, it must be clear that the spurious claims penned by Mr Atkinson were meant to bring disrepute to the work of Gecom.
“Gecom prides itself on the principle of carrying out its responsibilities without bias for or against any stakeholder, not lastly persons who meet the eligibility criteria for registration and voting. This will continue to be one of the guiding principles that we observe in honouring our responsibilities.
“While we welcome constructive criticisms from any concerned party, we must urge that any relevant pronouncements must be based on the truth.”
