GECOM could increase the number of workstations to 30

Dear Editor,

The GECOM position that it would take 156 days to count the ballots would be laughable if the situation in Guyana was not so grim.  Also, it begs the question, what are the qualifications required to become the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of GECOM?

If one were to use the GECOM Secretariat’s own analysis, copied below, as a workable solution for the counting of the ballots, then the time required can easily be reduced by a factor of ten by increasing the number of workstations to thirty.

All that would be required is to do the counting at ten different locations with three  workstations each. This would reduce the time to 15.6 days and would not significantly change the cost of the exercise.  However, it would make a significant positive impact on the economy of Guyana and the current tensions that exists in the society.

Against this backdrop, the estimated time for one ballot box to be counted was projected to be two hours; utilizing 3 workstations for 10 hours per day (9:00hrs -19:00hrs) at a central location to count 2339 boxes. Hence, the projected duration as indicated.  

Yours faithfully,

Tara Singh