Dear Editor,
I have just read the Chief Election Officer Lowenfield’s proposal for the recounting of the ballots of the March 2, elections. This gentleman who has lost all our trust wants 156 days or about five long, excruciating, nerve-racking months to count approximately 2300 ballot boxes many with less than 200 ballots bearing in mind a population who because of covid-19 may be out of a job, with hungry children and very bleak prospects since we don’t have a fully functioning government or a parliament where interventions can be made to benefit the population. I find this 156 days simply unbelievable, mind-boggling and insulting. I am wondering in which world or which galaxy is this goodly gentleman living. I think my favourite newspaper columnist Freddie Kissoon would say Guyana is not a real country and in this day and age when we in the business world have to quickly adapt and innovate for survival, Mr Lowenfield’s grey cells seem to have taken leave of him.
For this harrowing and sorry state of affairs in our country today, I am laying the blame fully and squarely at the feet of the Chairman Justice Claudette Singh and no one else. In my view she has totally abdicated her responsibilities or she does not know what is her job. From the moment Mingo came with his imaginary numbers she should have stepped in. I always remember Dr Steve Surujbally, the previous chairman many times used to have more than one press conference a day and when you look at Lowenfield in the presence of Dr Surujbally there was no mistaking who was in charge of the commission. Today I am seeing Lowenfield and GECOM’s public relations officer as the bosses of the commission and the Chairperson nowhere to be seen or heard from. From March 2 to today, Editor correct me if I am wrong, there was only one press conference of the chairperson. In all of the shenanigans at GECOM from March 3, not speaking to the public about what was taking place is surely an abdication of one’s statutory responsibilities in my book.
Madam chairperson if you are reading this please use your powers as GECOM chairperson and the commission and bring sanity back to this country. I am strongly suggesting calling in the auditor general to bring in 20 auditors and let’s do the recount. CARICOM can send how many persons they can and we should also live stream the whole process. But please do something!! Make decisions and let’s get on with this recount. We need to stop being the laughingstock of the world. You are on trial in front of the world.
Yours faithfully,
M. Raffik
President
Central Corentyne
Chamber of Commerce
