Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chair Claudette Singh yesterday refuted claims that she has “facilitated the persecution” of Commission staff, while Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon has issued a call for her to resign.
In a statement yesterday, Justice (ret’d) Singh explained that the only information she has provided to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is the job description of several staff members.
“I wish to state that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had requested the contracts of some members of staff which I reported at a Statutory Meeting of the Commission. After some discussion, I undertook to seek clarity from the CID as to the purpose of the request as these documents are private to GECOM and those members of staff. A response from the CID advised that what in fact was required were their respective Job Descriptions. Considering that this information is public, I instructed the Human Resources Manager to provide Job Descriptions only,” Singh said.
Singh, who formerly served as Police Legal Advisor, also reminded that she does not have the authority to interfere in the work of the GPF nor any other statutory body but added that she would “always ensure that the best interest of the members of staff of GECOM are protected.”
Singh’s statement was issued in response to statements made by opposition-nominated Elections Commissioner Desmond Trotman outside the George-town Magistrates’ Courts, where Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers was faced with charges of misconduct in office. Myers is the latest GECOM official to be charged in wake of an attempt to manipulate the results of the March 2nd polls in favour of the former APNU+AFC administration, which is still under investigation by police.
Speaking with media, Trotman stated that Singh has been “facilitating the handing over of information and the persecution of members of staff without showing any willingness to take some line of action. He further claimed that “party to what is happening, is the Chair of the Commission because she is facilitating every line of action that the police is taking and claiming that she cannot interfere … She has instructed that documents be handed over without ascertaining what the documents are going to be used for.”
Singh lamented Trotman’s criticism, while maintaining that “he was present and a party to these discussions.”
Meanwhile, Harmon yesterday accused the GPF of detaining and breaching the constitutional rights of several employees of GECOM on the basis of trumped up charges and baseless accusations and investigations.
He made the accusations at his weekly press conference, where he also claimed there has been clear discriminatory practices in this regard with GECOM’s Afro-Guyanese staffers being targeted and persecuted by the police.
“All of the senior officers of GECOM arrested and harassed are of one ethnic group-Afro Guyanese. All have been harassed, arrested and detained in the lock up, some for periods in excess of the constitutionally stipulated time on the slightest of excuses,” he claimed, before adding that he is aware that documents had been released to Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum.
Although Harmon contrasted the arrest of these officers with the apparent failure by the police to investigate those Presiding Officers who allegedly failed to include statutory documents in at least 29 ballot boxes, it is not known whether a criminal complaint has been filed in relation to the documents.
Harmon, however, stressed that “no other person working in the Commission of any other ethnicity has been treated this way.”
“These are clear instances of political persecution and victimization of the Afro-Guyanese staff members of GECOM which constitute an attempt to dismantle GECOM and render it ineffective from being able to hold credible elections. It is an assault on democracy and can cause irreparable damage to the fundamental basis of our country,” he argued while accusing Singh of being complicit.
He further said Singh has not raised her voice in concern for the welfare of these officers who worked with her”.
“Madame Chairman you are leaving a tattered legacy and should resign before it gets worse,” he said.
Apart from Myers, GECOM staff members who have been detained include Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, Duarte Hetsberger, Michelle Miller, Enrique Livan, Shefern February, Carolyn Duncan and Denise Cummings.
The Opposition Leader highlighted the fact that in several instances these staff members were in custody beyond the constitutionally allowed 72 hours without charge.
In the case of Myers, he claimed that on the advice of her attorney, she invoked her constitutional right to silence and was charged for obstructing the investigation, although police have challenged that suggestion.
“Guyana has degenerated to a lawless police state where persons can be charged without any basis whatsoever, their constitutional rights trampled upon and disregarded,” Harmon concluded.
He also highlighted that at least two ministers of government have interjected themselves into the investigation.
“Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and Minister Charles Ramson Jr have been reported to have been in contact…(with) persons who have been detained. This is illegal and unconstitutional and calls into question the motive, opportunity and means of the Guyana Police Force in dismantling an agency that is protected by the Constitution,” he said.
