Dear Editor,
Guyanese welcome the long-awaited Claims and Objections cycle, which commenced on Tuesday, October 01, 2019, and continues for forty-two days after an adjustment to the initial period, agreed by the Commissioners. It presents the speediest approach by GECOM to cleanse the Preliminary List of Voters and the opportunity for citizens who are not on the list to register. The time has come for all citizens to have their say in halting this downward slide of our treasured country under the hands of this dictatorship APNU/AFC regime.
It is very interesting that the GECOM Secretariat extracted the Preliminary List of Electors from the Database that was effective at the end of April 2019. The same database that Government Commissioners and the Secretariat knew all along was valid. Yet, they deliberately put up a persistent and systemic approach of false representations of the facts, focused on deliberately effecting delayed elections and extending the life of the fallen and now illegal APNU/AFC regime.
The surreptitious defiance of our revered Constitution by this cabal and the blatant game playing accommodation by Mr Granger fly in the face of the level of fairness and objectivity required at GECOM. It also highlights the level of ingrained deceptiveness and untrustworthiness in his leadership. This brings to the forefront, the generally undesired abuse of the autonomy granted to GECOM that is being advantaged by the likes of Keith Lowenfield, who leads the Secretariat, and the infamous hard-nosed quartet of Mr Granger’s anointed James Patterson and the three PNC/APNU Commissioners.
All will recall that the main Opposition PPP/C was consistent in their call for GECOM to use the list, which the forces in the then GECOM Commission and Secretariat deliberately allowed to expire on April 30, 2019. Of course, this was given its continuous update over the years by GECOM in accordance with the legally approved framework, leading up to various elections including 2015 that brought the Government to power.
It is a fact that the validity of the list subject to the required update was never in question. This was on numerous occasions admitted by the Public Relations Officer, Legal Officer and Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield. It is, therefore, unacceptable that Keith Lowenfield shamelessly and inexplicably embarked on the infamous House-to-House cycle in the absence of a Chairman of GECOM and in rejection of the rulings of the CCJ regarding the instructive position of Section 106 of the Guyana Constitution.
The irrationality and tenacious emphasis of unconstitutional breach by this Granger PNC-influenced clique highlight their unfitness for the position they currently hold in GECOM. Lowenfield’s lack of enforcement of the most appropriate of the Continuous Registration and Claims and Objection approach places every action authorised by the Secretariat up for microscopic scrutiny. The seemingly innate “corrections when exposed” design applied by Lowenfield raises too many questions for acceptability, trust and transparency.
From some of the recent outputs of the Secretariat, it must be clarified regarding who created the deliberate false alarm and published in the Official Gazette that the duration of Continuous Registration will be forty-nine days. Who in GECOM Secretariat sent out an Order from GECOM for all registrants to go to the GECOM office and verify their name on the Preliminary List of Voters?
The contaminated and misleading environment that the Secretariat creates is a recipe for mass protest and action against all those who are wilfully playing with the lives of our people. All citizens must vehemently condemn these unnecessary and unpardonable sins by key actors in the GECOM Secretariat and the perpetrators of these woeful and most damaging actions must be fully sanctioned.
Requests by numerous media outfits have sought explanations as it relates to this particular and several most disgusting acts of the GECOM Secretariat. The callous treatment by offering another correction without explanation is most disgusting. I wish to emphasise the deliberate attempt at confusion caused by the GECOM Secretariat’s release, which state:
“During the exercise, every person whose name appears on the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) must visit the registration office in their respective area with their National Identification Card to verify their registration record to be included in the Official List of Electors (OLE).”
Aside from the retraction, we condemn this wicked statement as fake, false, and wicked; and the Chairperson, Madam Justice retired Claudette Singh should take the necessary steps to ensure the responsible source from GECOM Secretariat is dealt condignly with the full force of the law. GECOM’s image is on public trial and the evidence points to strong untrustworthiness of the controlling staff at the Secretariat, who are continuously proving their liability to this country and the Commission in particular.
It is, therefore, imperative that GECOM recruits an independent evaluator, whose job will be to evaluate all official systems for the day-to-day activities and to ensure the achievement of all targets. GECOM also needs a technical assessor, whose function should be to monitor the electoral system to ensure maximum and accurate output within the confines of the law.
Further, there is recognition by the public that GECOM is in desperate need of more than one information technology specialist. It is of note that the imposter, pensioner Patterson, who Granger had catapulted at the helm of GECOM, surreptitiously and irrationally rejected the IT specialist offered by the UNDP. Without hesitation, GECOM should accept the offer by the international community to assist in offering technical assistance and monitoring of the various phases of the preparation of the elections.
One has to be cognisant of the fact that GECOM has rogue elements within is confines who could compromise a free and fair election. The Chairman of GECOM should act with urgency to protect the integrity of the elections, knowing that trust is questionable in the Secretariat.
The situation at GECOM is rotten and more and more people will continue to focus on and speak out on all the skullduggeries at the office, thereby affecting the credence of the organisation and its role.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar
