COVID-19 Task Force blanks GECOM for assessment on more counting stations

National Elections Recount…

…political appointees now being used to delay recount – Jagdeo

A decision by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to house additional counting stations at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) has been deferred, since public health officials from the National Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Taskforce failed to show up at the venue to assess the facility on Wednesday.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has since lashed out at GECOM and the Taskforce, pointing to their political figureheads, some of whom he accused of being a part of the plot to rig the March 2, General and Regional Elections.
Speaking with reporters at the makeshift Media Centre outside of the venue on Wednesday, Jagdeo accused the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC), of using the National COVID-19 Taskforce “to slow things down.”

The Commission, as part of the measures being considered to ensure the National Recount exercise is accelerated in order to meet the 25-day deadline, on Monday invited the Taskforce to pronounce on whether the facility could house additional workstations, taking into account COVID-19 measures.

The Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary on Wednesday noted, however, that the Taskforce is headed by APNU/AFC’s Moses Nagamootoo, with Joseph Harmon as its Chief Executive Officer, along with members such as Volda Lawrence, Karen Cummings and others.

“The Taskforce is political,” Jagdeo lamented, as he declared it unfortunate that, “We have to now go to the same people to decide if you can increase workstations.”
Lamenting the situation further, the Opposition Leader posited that the Taskforce appears only interested in enforcing COVID-19 measures within the precincts of the ACCC.
PPP/C Executive Member Anil Nandlall, in welcoming the decision to expand the number of counting stations, was critical of the decision to solicit the guidance of the COVID-19 Taskforce, and reiterated that GECOM is an autonomous constitutional body.
He said that, under Article 226 of the Constitution of Guyana, Commissions such as GECOM are not subject to the directions or instructions of any other body of person.
He suggested that even if the COVID-19 Taskforce were to be constituted by technically competent persons, “it would have been improper for GECOM to cede its independence to that Taskforce.”
Buffeting his argument, Nandlall argued that the makeup of the current taskforce “makes it worse.”
The PPP executive said the APNU/AFC political figureheads running the Taskforce are in fact active participants of the National Recount exercise, which they are being asked to influence.
He suggested that the Taskforce has adopted a particular position of delay and frustration, and “this is the authority to which GECOM is going to turn for COVID-19 protocols”, and he questioned what type of advice the Taskforce would give.
The former Attorney-General and Legal Affairs Minister posited a denial on the part of the Taskforce in order to delay the recount process further.
Nandlall, in further adumbrating his position on GECOM’s independence from the National COVID-19 Taskforce, pointed to the Judiciary’s introduction of its own measures, and said that the judiciary “is similarly circumstanced constitutionally like GECOM”, and that it had established its own protocols, not depending on the Taskforce.
He noted, too, that the High Court, in a recent elections- related ruling, had said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) could not supervise the National Recount exercise, and he said that this reinforces GECOM’s independence.
GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward has since indicated that the team from the Taskforce is expected to visit the venue and provide its assessment today.

Postponed scheduled meetings
Meanwhile, PPP GECOM Commissioner Sasenarine Gunraj, in briefing media operatives on the delayed meeting, indicated that the public health team was reportedly detained with COVID-19 measures in relation to a flight at the airport.
He has since called on the Commission to treat with its request in a timely, efficient and objective manner, taking into account the exegeses of the request.
According to Gunraj, the delayed meeting has since led to GECOM having to postpone scheduled meetings with the opposition Peoples Progressive Party and the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
The PPP Commissioner did use the occasion to again lament: “We ought not to be fettered by a task force that is comprised of persons who are seeking office from this electoral process, and it has always been my belief that their presence there could affect objective consideration by that taskforce of our issues.”