Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo is calling on the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh, to address the public and clear any and all misunderstanding on decisions made by the commission.
“The Chair who came into office with enormous goodwill… has a special role to play in ensuring that Guyanese are not in this state of disquiet … [to] allay concerns that there is a process that could lead to their disenfranchisement,” he said at his weekly press conference yesterday.
Jagdeo repeatedly stressed that assurance as to the decisions of the commission has to come from the chair herself rather than the six other commissioners who routinely present their position on matters.
“Every week after the meeting we have commissioners who come out and give their views of what went on at the meeting but we don’t have the chair of GECOM saying here are the things we discussed and these are the decisions made,” he noted, adding that to avoid confusion or disquiet we need that clarity.
He drew particular attention to a recent proposal from the government-nominated commissioners to have in excess of 20,000 persons removed from the List of Electors because they have not collected their Identification Cards more than 10 years after the 2008 House to House Exercise.
According to Jagdeo, Singh who delivered the decision in the Esther Perreira election petition case should’ve immediately shut down this suggestion as illegal.
“These things should not be allowed to confuse the electorate. From the time the proposal came up the Chair should have shut it down not have it find its way into the media environment and still seem to be giving it energy and oxygen in the commission. We will be facing a legal challenge if persons are removed from the list because they have not collected ID Cards. ID cards are not needed to vote. She ruled that illegal as well as Justice Roxane George,” he stressed.
Reminding that the conduct of elections is not about what takes place behind closed doors in the commission, Jagdeo stressed that the public must be routinely updated and educated.
He further said that he expected that by now the chair would’ve made a decision on the technical assistance offered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Stating that the commission has accepted help from the Commonwealth and Canadian High Commission, he reminded that the UNDP has for a long time made available the service of someone to have oversight in the Information Technology (IT) Department but GECOM is resistant to that help.
He stressed that the IT Department is critical as it is the department that produces the list and tabulates the votes therefore oversight is necessary.
“It’s a simple decision… I would’ve expected her to embrace this swifter,” Jagdeo indicated.
“I believe that Justice Singh served the country well as judge… [but] she has to understand that this is not the court when you’re a judge and you make a decision, you expect people…to faithfully carry out the decision or ruling…you have to get into the technical details of what is being discussed and also stay on top of what is being issued by GECOM to see that that it faithfully represents the views of the organisation and not individuals,” he declared
