Home Letters GECOM must take necessary, critical, and decisive actions now!
Dear Editor,
In the build-up to, and during March 2, 2020 National and Regional Elections, a distasteful malady enveloped and attenuated national and international confidence in the body with constitutional responsibility for conducting what must be its most sacrosanct undertakings. Sadly, the snail’s pace of addressing causal factors and remedying obvious failures are still to be purposefully addressed, and these are likely to have dire consequences if not swiftly and effectively dealt with.
It must be a strong matter of concern to those involved at the Commission level, that much public evidence exists, together with the prosecution of several of its key officials, fuelling the highest levels of mistrust and doubts. Unless their functionality is driven by extra-terrestrial considerations, our GECOM Chairwoman and Commissioners must be aware of the broad public conviction, and the perception that the roles played by its contaminated officials in the Secretariat resulted in glaring attempts to derail the elections by delivering concocted and false results.
There is also no doubt that public rationale and analogy, assure that had it not been for the strong stand taken by the international community together with the never die position of the combined opposition, democracy in Guyana would have died for at least the next few decades. GECOM has become a “sore-eye” and an enigma to which our citizens demand an immediate solution. Definitively, no coverups in this respect will be tolerated.
Yet, the required strong, appropriate, and necessary corrective measures have not been demonstrated or sufficiently signalled to assure our nations of another similar future debacle. It is, therefore, imperative that the Chairwoman and Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) act now to quell the massive distrust and win the confidence of the nation. GECOM must provide assurances that the institution made the necessary changes, in purposeful pursuit of conducting free and fair Local Government Elections and providing credible results.
Guyanese are not prepared to accept the pussy-footing of GECOM on the serious issues concerning the known employees whose actions are seen in the eyes of the public at home and abroad, as “riggers” of elections. The blatant, barefaced untrustworthy, and notoriously “perks grabbing” officials who are now before the courts, must be removed immediately from the GECOM payroll. Guyanese are even more vocal now and justified in demanding that the Chairperson of GECOM get rid of all those riggers. They have placed this nation under duress for five long months, and are disappointingly continuing to receive their big salaries together with drivers and security protection.
The widespread condemnation of a most disgraceful GECOM Secretariat established the disproportionate and biasedly imposed discretion by staff with administrative latitude, at the 2020 elections. The European Union Mission report revealed that GECOM failed to take decisive action as the electoral process derailed into chaos and illegality. It states that “GECOM abdicated its constitutional duty to take all actions necessary to ensure compliance with the law by any of its officials, despite unequivocal powers to remove and exercise disciplinary control over them.”
The report further contends that “With confidence in GECOM already undermined by limited inclusiveness and transparency, the post-election crisis exposed a dysfunctional Commission unable to control its administration.” The obvious question is why is the Commission and its Chairwoman moving so slowly to correct the “slow poison” which the body can be treated.
It is known that the EU Observer Mission made several recommendations in its report that are expected to contribute to the necessary reform of Guyana’s electoral system. While some elements require broader levels of consultations towards necessary legislative amendments outside of GECOM’s control, there is no evidence emerging from the Commission led by Chairwoman Justice (retired) Madam Claudette Singh, of a willingness to assert the mantle of control over its Secretariat. Failure to act promptly must be viewed as an absolute aberration of responsibility that is tantamount to its CEO Keith Lowenfield’s astringent and suffocating agenda.
Editor, with Local Government Elections due, we are yet to see if the muscles of the 2020 handicapped Commission will remain constricted by the apparent Lowenfield tentacles. He misused and abused the allowed administrative leverage as the Secretariat’s CEO, which was the source of all the frustration and ills that took place over those unforgettable five months. The time is opportune for the GECOM Commissioners to put a motion to the next meeting of the Commission, to dismiss Keith Lowenfield promptly. This is given his “lone ranger” type public defiance to the Commission and Chairwoman that certainly justifies the loss of confidence. Let us see how the votes will go in this respect since contemplated undercutting surprises must be met with the appropriate timely reactions.
Significantly, the Carter Center noted that “the 2020 election was a true test of Guyana’s democracy, highlighting deep divides that persist in Guyanese society and the ways that the current political and electoral systems reinforce these divisions. It is critical that key leaders in Guyana now reach across the divide and work to ensure that fundamental electoral and constitutional reforms are completed as an urgent priority, well before the next election.”
Notwithstanding, the paramountcy of purpose for engendering national confidence in the organisation’s implementation and, upholding electoral policies in a free, fair, and transparent manner resonates with GECOM. The Chairwoman and Commissioner must, therefore, move to demonstrate these ideals now!!
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar