Injunction filed to block GPA’s upcoming elections

The controversy surrounding the upcoming elections of the Guyana Press Association (GPA) this weekend has heightened with legal actions taken to block the electoral process from moving forward.
A Fixed Date Application (FDA) was filed by Mikhail Rodrigues on Friday and named incumbent GPA President, Nazima Raghubir, and Executive Members Rawle Toney, Denis Chabrol and Svetlana Marshall as respondents.
In his application, Rodrigues is asking the court for a prohibition to be ordered against the GPA from holding any election of office bearers without first processing the Applicant’s application for membership.

Rodrigues outlined in the legal document that he is a “popularly known journalist and media operative under the alias, “Guyanese Critic” …for over 10 years …Under Clause 3 and 4 of the Constitution of the Guyana Press Association, the Applicant has qualified as a journalist to apply for full membership.”
“On several occasions and more recently in May 2023, the Applicant applied for membership in the Guyana Press Association. His application was rejected on arbitrary grounds… He has never been given a written or any specific reason for the refusal of his registration.”
Consequently, Rodrigues is also asking the court to declare that GPA’s refusal of his application for membership is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and contrary to the Constitution of the Association. He is also seeking a court order that the GPA process his application for membership forthwith.

This publication understands that this court application is expected to be heard by a Judge sometime today.
Recently, the GPA has been surrounded by controversy leading up to the upcoming election.
On Thursday, several local media entities signed a petition calling on the GPA to release the voters’ list ahead of the Annual General Meeting on Sunday.
In the petition, which was sent on Thursday, the media houses expressed “serious concerns” about the AGM, which will be held at the Theatre Guild in Kingston, Georgetown, particularly about membership and the voter’s list.

They explained that in the past, it has been the practice of the GPA to register members and collect their dues on the day of elections in cases where dues had not been paid. In cases where new members who meet the eligibility criteria to vote, that is, three working years in the media, wished to sign up and pay the required dues, they were allowed to do so. This way all members eligible to vote could only be known on the day of the elections itself.
“This year, the GPA Executive abandoned that convention and set May 6 as the date for the payment of dues for EXISTING members and has said registration of new members will be approved by the new executive. This decision effectively denies membership to many who are working members of the media for three years (and more) and who wish to participate in the elections,” the petition detailed.
To this end, the media houses said in the interest of transparency and accountability and to ensure the integrity of the GPA as well as to eliminate any concerns about the credibility of the list of voters, they called on the GPA Executive to immediately release the list of all members eligible to vote at the elections on May 14.
Meanwhile, the GPA Executive, in a statement on Thursday, was adamant about not releasing the 110-member voters’ list, claiming that some members have requested confidentiality prior to Sunday’s election.
“The Executive of the Guyana Press Association (GPA) today unanimously reaffirmed that the names of the 110 members who are eligible to vote for office bearers would be made known on Sunday, May 14, 2023, at the General Members Meeting and Elections, by the Returning Officer, Attorney-at-Law Ronald Burch-Smith. This is to preserve the confidentiality of a number of members who have requested that their membership remain confidential prior to the elections,” the missive stated.
According to the GPA, “Eligible members shall be allowed to vote in accordance with the GPA’s Constitution for office-bearers to be elected by secret ballot. Every effort has been made to ensure that the elections will be free, fair, and transparent. We have invited a number of observers for Sunday’s process”.
Several media workers and media entities have indicated that they were not aware of the membership drive. Moreover, some reporters working in the outlying regions such as Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) have also complained about being unable to clear their dues or being allowed to register in order to vote at Sunday’s AGM.
In light of the concerns raised, an urgent meeting has been requested with the GPA by veteran journalist, Neil Marks, who is contesting for the GPA presidency. On the agenda for that meeting is the publication of the list of eligible voters for the upcoming elections; reverting to the convention of accepting applications on the day of the AGM; extending the deadline for the processing and approval of new members to the GPA by Saturday at 16:00h and accepting, and dues of existing members by the said deadline.
Up to press time on Friday, the GPA had not responded with a time for that meeting.