Almost six months after it closed the application process for the filling of key vacancies, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is yet to interview the shortlisted applicants and now Opposition-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander is raising concerns about what he sees as the deliberate slothfulness in the process.
Back in September/October last year, GECOM advertised for a Chief Election Officer (CEO), Deputy CEO, Assistant CEO, Chief Accountant, Logistics Manager, Legal Officer and Civic and Voter Education Manager. After a months-long process, the post of CEO was filled by Vishnu Persaud and that of Legal Officer by attorney, Kurt Anthony Da Silva.
On the preliminary shortlist are Melanie Marshall, Neil Bacchus, Mohamed Arjoon, and Deodat Persaud for the DCEO post. Delon Clarke, Noland Jervis, Melanie Marshall, Paul Jaisingh, Mohamed Arjoon, Neil Bacchus, Deolall Ramlall, Deodat Persaud, Natasha Grenion Dipchand, Andrea Sparman, Duarte Hetsberger and Colin April were shortlisted by the Chair to be considered for the post of ACEO.
For the post of Chief Accountant, Jaiwattie Singh, Abeossa Simon, Orlando Small, Victor Arjune and Ronald Charles have been shortlisted.
GECOM Chair retired Justice Claudette Singh had named 17 for Civic and Voter Education Manager, and 24 for Logistics Manager. Applicants for the Logistics Manager post include former acting Town Clerk for the Municipality of Georgetown, Sharon Harry-Munroe and former CEO Keith Lowenfield’s personal assistant Duarte Hetsberger. Hetsberger was recently let go from the Commission after the new CEO, Persaud chose another personal assistant.
However, there is some controversy surrounding the process now. GECOM has re-advertised for the post of Chief Accountant and according to sources within the Commission, this is to facilitate the application of the staff currently acting in that position.
Additionally, the DCEO post is also attracting some controversy with the government side pushing for it to be re-advertised.
Yesterday, Alexander told Stabroek News that there seems to be a concerted effort to delay the hiring process resulting in the Secretariat being understaffed.
“I raised the matter, the Chairman [retired Justice Claudette Singh] said today [Tuesday] we are discussing last week’s meeting with APNU+AFC and at a subsequent time we would get back to that matter [of hiring]. I am concerned. I don’t know what is the motive behind it but certainly, there seems to be intentional slothfulness,” Alexander stated.
“I know in the case of the DCEO we have reached to the point of shortlisting people and now they [government side] want it re-advertised so that they are not wanting to go ahead with this process because they seem not to have the candidate of their choice that was shortlisted,” he added.
Questionable issuance
GECOM met with the opposition APNU+AFC last week and during the meeting, a number of issues were raised including the irregular issuance of an ID card in Region Six. GECOM undertook to investigate the complaint which was discussed at yesterday’s statutory meeting.
Alexander told Stabroek News that the investigation found that the ID card was delivered to the applicant who was deemed as a “shut-in” but there was no proper paper trail.
“We concluded that this matter was not altogether accounted for because the ID card was delivered eventually to the applicant who is now a shut-in and there was no signature and witnesses or signature of people that were present though they said people were present. There was no documentation that the parties signed that it is the right person that accepted the card and that the thumbprint is the right thumbprint to whom the card belonged.
“There is a flaw in that process as well. Somebody turned up to collect an ID card for somebody else and subsequently, they went and delivered the card to this person that is a shut-in but in … delivering the card it doesn’t have the kind of paper trail to show that the scrutineers signed as witnesses in the delivery of this card,” Alexander explained.
He added that the matter would be further deliberated on at the next meeting.
At last week’s meeting, the APNU+AFC also raised questions over the lack of public education on the ongoing continuous registration cycle as well as to signal its non-support for the process.
At yesterday’s meeting, it was revealed that the CEO took over the responsibility for public education from the Public Relations Officer (PRO), according to Alexander.
“One of the major issues that came out is that public relations had been detached from voter and civic education and is [now] under the direct control of the CEO and therefore in some regards the CEO has to take responsibility for the fact that we have not received the infomercials as yet.
“It became clear that the PRO is not responsible because the PRO has been taken out of the voter education operation and the CEO has taken direct responsibility even in the absence of the voter education manager – one of the positions we should be filling at a time when they seem to be slow in filling these positions,” Alexander lamented.
