Dead woman’s name appears on AFC’s East Berbice list

LGE 2018

By Andrew Carmichael

Residents of Good Hope/Number 51 Neighbourhood Democratic Council on the Corentyne Coast in East Berbice (Region Six) are claiming they did not put their names on forms submitted to the Returning Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by the Alliance For Change (AFC) on Nomination Day.

Signatures representing one dead person, six who live overseas, and 18 who claim they did not sign the forms, including a man who cannot read or write, have all appeared on forms submitted to the Returning Officer by Kumar Bridgelall, who presented the AFC list to GECOM on Friday.
Relatives of Radha Jugroo said she died in the USA on June 26, 2018, but her name and a signature purporting to be hers have appeared on the AFC list which Bridgelall submitted to GECOM on Friday last.
The daughter of Dhanraj Deonat — Babita Davie — has told this publication it was impossible for her father to have signed the AFC list, because he can neither read nor write.
She explained that Deonat uses his thumb print whenever he is required to sign something. The woman also presented her father’s National Identification Card (ID Card) to show that the number corresponds with the number affixed next to Deonat’s name on the AFC list submitted to GECOM. On the identification card there is a thumb print in place of a signature.

Babita Davie-Deonat further told this publication that her name and identification number also appear on the AFC list with a signature next to it. She is contending that she had never signed a form for the AFC, and that the signature which appeared next to her name is not hers.
Another resident, Bebi Khatija Isahak, said she also has never signed any form, but her name and a signature purporting to be hers appear on the AFC list
Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Campaign Manager for Good Hope/Number 51, Swarswattie Davi-Sherrif, told this publication that the names and ID numbers of several of the persons who have placed their names on the PPP back-up list have also appeared on the AFC list.
According to the campaign manager, following the concerns which were raised, she had gone and checked the list for herself.
“It is true that these people do not support the AFC and their names are on the AFC form,” she declared.
She is questioning the actions of GECOM staffers, noting that the PPP had submitted its list to GECOM first on Friday, and many of the names which the AFC submitted to GECOM had already been submitted by the PPP.
PPP campaign supervisor Dennis De Roop told Guyana Times on Sunday the party is very concerned about what has happened, and is referring to it as fraud.
He explained that the party is currently assisting with the preparation of affidavits for those PPP supporters and candidates whose names appear on the AFC list but they have indicated that they have no wish to be a part of the AFC list, and also that they did not sign any documentation to suggest a desire to be on the AFC list.
“We will also follow up that, and take legal action, too, in these matters. Some of these persons whose signatures were forged have indicated that they will take private action against the AFC and the AFC candidate who forged their signatures.”
He explained that most of the concerned persons live in Numbers 47 and 48 villages. He also said the Good Hope/Number 51 NDC is not the only community in which the party has noticed that type of irregularity.
He said A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) might have also done the same thing in some other areas in the region.
He added that the Party has now been forced to check many other communities in the region.
“It appears as though these parties could not get the required signatures to support their candidates, so they forged signatures; and in some areas they misled the persons, telling them that they were signing to have their streets repaired or to have streets lights installed in their communities,” De Roop noted.
The party was expected to take its concerns to GECOM on Monday. However, this newspaper was unable to get an update on the outcome.