Dear Editor,
In an unjustified attack on Justice (retired) Claudette Singh, Chairperson of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM), Commissioner Vincent Alexander recently published an outburst deserving of full condemnation.
His rants served only to reinforce the litany of constitutional and other failures that he is now known to be associated with, particularly the continuous undermining role of the Commission of his employ.
The matter relates to the Commission’s consideration and approval of a petition for the temporary secondment of the GECOM IT Manager to the Operations Department of the Commission’s Secretariat. In this respect, Alexander seems to be objecting to the particular staff rendering interim assistance to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) with the regularisation of some day–to–day organisational work, and this was indeed petty and infantile.
Alexander is fully aware that Local Government Elections are overdue, and it is imperative that GECOM put all systems in place to hold LGEs immediately. It is, however, not surprising that he sought to prematurely throw another tantrum of convenience targeted at slowing down the GECOM hosting of the LGEs.
These intermittent acts of defiance run contrary to the level of objectivity required of the Commission concerning its function, defined under the spirit and intent of Article 162 of our Constitution. In particular, Section 162 (1) (b) states:
“The Commission – shall issue such instructions and take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness, and compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or of any Act of Parliament on the part of persons exercising powers or performing duties connected with or relating to the matters aforesaid.”
There appears to be only very little consideration, if any, of the meaning of impartiality, fairness, and expedient in the dictionary of Alexander. He was conveniently and conflictingly silent when the brutal assault of certain persons was launched on the true results of the March 2020 elections results, disenfranchising the votes of thousands of electors. On numerous occasions, when a certain senior staff usurped the authority of the Commission in an attempt to execute heinous acts against our nation, he seemingly lost his voice.
It would be recalled that when the shoes were on the other foot, Alexander hypocritically penned a letter accusing the then PPPC commissioners of grandstanding. Concerning “the preparedness of GECOM for the local government elections,” he stated, “I will lend my effort to GECOM being prepared and allow history to determine the correctness of the Benn, Shadick and Gunraj contention.” This situation allows one to pose questions about why his concerns have now changed.
As for his performance as a PNC representative on GECOM, most persons do not appreciate his obstructionist approach to the work of the Commission. The negativity of Alexander suggested a tacit role as part of the cabal that witnessed the PNC’s desperate effort to rig the 2020 National and Regional Elections. As he boasts of being the longest-serving commissioner, his overzealous and conveniently biased disposition has been uncompromising in diminishing GECOM’s neutral mandate and goals, unless it benefits the PNC.
The fact is that GECOM must be able to produce free and fair elections, hence all the rogue elements must be removed. Consequently, GECOM must produce a list of its staff strength. Those that were involved in the skullduggery on the East Coast of Demerara, who cannot give an explanation of what took place concerning documents that were not in the ‘boxes’, must face the consequences.
Guyanese must not accept the clandestine cleaning of the computers and no trace of the records at GECOM. The gerrymandering and changing of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council boundaries in 2016 and 2018 was done without any consultation with the PPP/C or any other civic group. Efforts by persons to frustrate the holding of LGEs must stop. The ludicrous concoctions and conflict from the likes of Vincent Alexander cannot be condoned in the search for justice and the building of democracy.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar
