Enumerators encountering staunch resistance from sections of society – GECOM CEO

As the House-to-House Registration exercise continues, enumerators have been greeted by non-cooperation from some sections of society with reports indicating that some have even employed dogs on the hapless GECOM workers.
This was revealed on Monday by Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield.

“These challenges include persons are told to register is an illegal activity and they’re fending them away from participating in the process. We’ve had incidents where dogs are let out on our enumerators on the field. We’ve had scenarios in which enumerators are told that they will not be paid and they should no longer participate in the process,” Lowenfield said.
GECOM had embarked on the House-to-House Registration exercise even though there were warnings about the lengthy time it will take to be completed. This was owing to the fact that elections are due by September 18 as mandated by the orders of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

As such, Lowenfield stated that any decision regarding this exercise in the future will be made by the newly constituted Chairperson.
“I’m sure whatever decisions relative to House-to-House and the conduct of elections will be made in order by a duly constituted Board that we have…. At this juncture with the new Chair in place, whatever decision that is required to take us forward to the earliest possible date for elections no doubt will be done at the earliest meeting of the duly constituted Board,” the related.
The High Court last week denied an application for an interim conservatory order to block GECOM from continuing the national registration exercise which began on June 20.
According to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, counsel for the applicant Christopher Ram, the order was not granted since Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George required more evidence as to the unconstitutionality of the exercise.
“The Chief Justice did not grant the conservatory order which we sought to restrain the registration process,” Nandlall explained. “But significantly, the Chief Justice emphasised that she understood that the CCJ ruled that the elections must be held by September 18.”
Nandlall’s affidavit containing additional evidence cites the work plan presented by Lowenfield, which shows that House-to-House Registration will take 290, and not the 90 days GECOM claimed it would take.
The affidavit also refers to and includes as an exhibition, the Order issued by former GECOM Chairman, retired Justice James Patterson, and published on June 11, 2019, in the Official Gazette. This order was cited by Lowenfield as the basis for carrying out House-to-House Registration.
Interestingly, however, the order itself states that the house-to-house exercise will begin on July 20, 2019, and end on October 20, 2019, showing that elections cannot be held by the September 18 deadline envisioned by the Chief Justice.
The house-to-house exercise, which was last conducted in 2008, will see enumerators going in teams of two to three from door to door in various communities across Guyana. The enumerators will present forms to registrants to fill up, as well as take fingerprints and pictures.
While it is done to produce a clean voters’ list, Lowenfield was quoted as saying that a Claims and Objections period could be used to refresh the voters’ list which expired on April 30, 2019, and can be used to conduct the constitutionally stipulated General and Regional Elections.
This was heavily pushed for from the parliamentary Opposition to honour the constitutional deadline but did not materialise.