The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has received 20 applications for the post of Chief Election Officer (CEO) and among these is the résumé of Gocool Boodoo, a former controversial CEO, according to Commissioner Vincent Alexander.
Alexander made the disclosure yesterday during a brief telephone interview with Stabroek News.
The Commissioners and Chair of GECOM were scheduled to meet virtually yesterday to decide on the process to be employed in the appointment of a CEO and Deputy CEO but this was cancelled because of internet problems.
The two top positions, along with several others, became vacant following the March 02, 2020, General and Regional Elections where then CEO Keith Lowenfield and DCEO Roxanne Myers faced various accusations. Their contracts with GECOM were terminated on August 12, 2021, and their posts were subsequently advertised with the application deadline being October 14.
Government-nominated Commissioner, Bibi Shadick told this newspaper that GECOM received 20 applications for the post of CEO and 20 for the DCEO post but would not confirm or deny the receipt of Boodoo’s application.
“Today’s meeting was intended to go through the applications and determine whether we are going to shortlist or interview all of the candidates for the posts of CEO and DCEO. We need to go through with the process and we currently have 20 applications for the post of CEO and 20 for the post DCEO,” Shadick said during a telephone interview.
GECOM Commissioners, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, have decided to meet virtually to attend to the business of the Commission, however, according to Shadick, yesterday’s meeting had to be cancelled owing to the lack of internet connectivity.
“GTT decided that GECOM should not have any internet today (yesterday) and so we could not meet to move forward with this process,” Shadick told Stabroek News during a brief telephone interview.
She explained that the Commission was without internet connection since yesterday morning and it could not be fixed in time for the scheduled Zoom meeting.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner, Alexander did confirm Boodoo’s interest in the job and related that the Commissioners are now waiting on Chair, retired Justice Claudette Singh to indicate a date for the next meeting to move forward with the process.
Finalising a process
Explaining the traditional process used for the appointment of the CEO and DCEO, Alexander said that the criteria are usually decided upon followed by the advertisement of the vacancies. Once applications are in and the deadline passes, the Commission would meet and begin shortlisting applicants.
“We then invite those shortlisted persons to an interview and traditionally the interview is being conducted by the members of the Commission and we all have score sheets on which we score the applicants and tabulate those scores. A report is then compiled and provided to the Commission for the appointment to be decided upon,” he explained.
Alexander said that the process to be employed during this round has not yet been fully finalised since yesterday’s aborted meeting was intended to discuss it and make decisions going forward.
“I had proposed (at a previous meeting) that because of all of the politics that is going on, that we identify a neutral panel to conduct the interviews instead of the Commissioners and they submit a report to the Commission and we make the decision going forward. But that has not yet been fully ventilated, discussed and decided upon. It is just a suggestion at this time and we are waiting to see what happens,” Alexander said.
Criteria
Based on the advertisement, the CEO is required to play the key leadership role in GECOM’s Secretariat and is tasked with the responsibility for implementing all aspects of its operations, and ensuring that results achieved are consistent with the Laws of Guyana and the policies determined by the Commission.
The successful candidate is responsible for advising the Commission on policy matters and their implementation, the interpretation of relevant legislation and a plethora of other responsibilities required for the day-to-day functioning of the Secretariat.
Boodoo’s contract was not renewed in 2013. He had been famously stopped by Alexander in 2011 from making an erroneous declaration which would have given the Donald Ramotar-led PPP/C government 33 seats in parliament when it only had 32. He corrected the intended declaration after he was asked by Alexander to explain how he had arrived at his position. The Ramotar administration won one less seat than APNU and the AFC combined and this eventually led to early elections in 2015 which the APNU+AFC coalition won.
Boodoo’s contract was not renewed following a majority vote against rehiring him. Boodoo was later hired by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development as a consultant and later resigned when the APNU+AFC Coalition took office following their victory at the May 2015 polls.
