Dear Editor,
Please permit me space in your newspaper to respond to a statement attributed to me in an article titled “GECOM Secretariat still awaiting a decision on local gov’t polls – as preparations continue”, authored by Lakhram Bhagirat, and published in the the Stabroek News dated August 6, 2022.
Editor, let me at the outset acknowledge having responded to a telephone call from Mr. Bhagirat seeking clarity on issues associated with preparations for Local Government Elections by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). In this regard, my very first comment to Mr. Bhagirat was that I am not authorized to, and will never speak for the Commission.
Thus, I was bewildered to read in the above-referenced article that the comment “… but the responsibility for identifying a date rests with the Commissioners and Chair.” was ascribed to me as an extension to the following comment that “the Secretariat is currently in preparation mode”.
Editor, I categorically deny having said any such thing to Mr. Bhagirat. I could not have said that even by mistake simply because I am fully aware beyond any doubt, as I have always been, that it is the statutory responsibility of the Minister of Local Government to pronounce the date for Local Government Elections (LGEs) – based on advice provided to him by GECOM about its state of readiness for the conduct of such elections.
Had Mr. Bhagirat done his homework, he would have found enshrined in Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Elections) Act Cap. 28:03, that “An election shall be held on such day as the Minister by order appoint”. Accordingly, he would have realized that it is not GECOM that is responsible to identify a date for LGEs, and would have precluded himself from writing such a fallacy.
Mr. Editor, considering that I am not a subscriber to the online edition of the Stabroek News, at the point of penning this letter I am not aware whether any other erroneous comment was attributed to me. Accordingly, I am unable to respond as the case might be. However, it would be careless of me if I were to ignore the title of the article which is equally deceptive as is the comment ascribed to me.
The use of the word “still” in the article’s title infers that the GECOM Secretariat, of which I am the Head, had expected some kind of decision on LGEs from the Commission, had not as yet so received, and was awaiting that decision – whatever it might be. In this regard, it is of vital importance that I make it unequivocally clear that the Commission has no outstanding decision for the Secretariat pertaining to the conduct of LGEs.
In fact, I would be the first to note that the Commission would not be in a position to give any decision pertaining to the conduct of LGES without having been appropriately advised in writing by me as the Head of the Secretariat.
Further, it would be negligent of me to overlook the need for all Stakeholders to be duly informed about preparations for LGEs. In this regard, the farthest that I would go at this time is to say that a modified Work Plan for LGEs has been submitted to the GECOM Chairman for consideration by the Commission. The mere position that such consideration is yet to take place obviously precludes me from touching on any aspect of the Plan in the public domain.
In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I wish to underscore that publishers cannot and must not disregard their responsibility to ensure accuracy in what they propagate, especially on matters of grave national interest as is the case in point. The dissemination of disinformation, whether deliberate or inadvertent would always carry deleterious effects. Whenever this happens, one cannot help construing such action as being linked to some kind of deliberate agenda aimed at helping someone or harming another. I sincerely hope that this is not one such case.
Sincerely,
Vishnu Persaud
Chief Election Officer
GECOM
Editor’s Note: Stabroek News regrets the inadvertent attribution to Mr Persaud of the statement regarding the responsibility for identifying a date resting with the Commissioners and Chair, and any inconvenience it may have caused him. The online report has since been corrected to address the misattribution.
