The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday defended the chair’s secondment of an Operations Coordinator.
In a press release yesterday, GECOM referred to an article published in Kaieteur News on January, 20, 2023 which was titled “GECOM Chair goes it alone… unilaterally creates, makes appointment to new temporary post.”
The release in responding to the article posited that it was of “crucial importance” that the following facts be noted.
GECOM noted that on November 9, 2022, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud wrote a memo to the Chair of the Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, requesting approval for the secondment of IT Manager, Aneal Giddings, to the Operations Department of the Commission’s Secretariat to assist with the day-to-day implementation and evaluation of the statutory and administrative tasks set out in the Work plan for the conduct of Local Government Elections (LGEs).
In justifying his request, the CEO noted that, unlike the conduct of General and Regional Elections, which take place in a disaggregated manner in ten different Electoral Districts, the LGEs will be conducted in eighty Local Authority Areas (LAAs) comprising ten Municipalities and seventy Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs).
According to the release, the CEO further pointed out that considering, i) the multiplicity of sequential and simultaneous tasks required to be implemented at Operations level for the LGEs, and ii) the position of Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) being vacant, it was of vital importance to have a Senior Manager who was au fait with operations management relative to the conduct of elections, to be assigned the responsibility of assisting him (CEO) so as to ensure that all of the required tasks are efficiently and effectively implemented in accordance with the timelines set out in the workplan for the LGEs.
Based on this line of reasoning, the Chairman approved the request with the understanding that Giddings would be referred to as ‘Operations Coordinator’ within the Operations Department of the Commission’s Secretariat since he would be responsible for carrying out responsibilities that would normally fall within the list of duties of DCEO.
The release went on to note that the Chair gave her approval for the secondment of Giddings with the full knowledge that she, i) was not creating any new position, ii) was not making an appointment, and iii) was aware that there existed, the precedent of staff been seconded, and in one case even appointed, without the knowledge and approval of the Commis-sion. Further, the Chairman’s approval of the requested secondment was based on the understanding that this would be a “temporary arrangement” until a suitable candidate was appointed to the position of DCEO. Meanwhile, it was understood that Giddings would still employed in the substantive position of IT Manager.
The release also took pains to remind that regarding to the filling of the vacancy of DCEO, the entire matter of the filling of all existing vacancies was placed “numerous times” on the Agenda of Statutory Meetings of the Commission. However, this topic was always deferred due to the need for the Commission to focus its attention on more pressing matters associated with preparations for the conduct of Local Government elections. “Needless to say, the filling of vacancies is again in focus and accordingly, Giddings’ secondment will come to an end upon the appointment of a DCEO,” the release added.
