Is the GECOM Chairman bowing to political pressures?

Dear Editor,
It is the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) secretariat’s statutory duty and responsibility to keep a current list of voters to be in readiness to conduct General and Regional Elections within the constitutional requirement of 90 days, or as such extended time as may be allowed by two-thirds majority vote of the Members of the National Assembly; consequent upon the passage of a no-confidence motion.
What is so difficult with a data base of all persons over 14 years of age to be updated daily with the inclusion of all persons attaining 18 years of age, and the deletion of all dead persons reported by the Registrar of deaths? The list of dead persons should be requested /required from the Registrars on a weekly basis. This is a simple common-sense approach given our electoral experience of controversies.
There is wide-spread national concern and anxiety over the obvious delaying tactics employed by the Chief Election Officer (CEO) and the staff under his management and administrative control. One puerile excuse of the CEO is that he is awaiting instructions from GECOM which cannot agree to move forward since the Commission is equally divided in deadlock on the next required statutory move. That places the Chairman of GECOM, although unilaterally appointed by the President, to exercise his Constitution duty and promote a mutually acceptable agreement through mediation in the national community interest. As a retired Judge with strong religious beliefs in righteousness, God’s justice and accountability to God, the nation expects him and the Commission’s staff to act justly and fairly within the time frame as outlined in our Constitution. Is the Chairman of GECOM bowing to political pressures and collusion to delay, as long as possible the legally required elections?
There can be no excuse for the GECOM’s CEO and staff of GECOM’s secretariat not to be ready to conduct elections in this context, having just conducted successfully Local Government Elections on November 12, 2018, with the validity of the voters’ list until April 30, 2019. Are we seeing gross incompetence, inefficiency, and negligence at GECOM secretariat in political collusion?

With thanks,
Joshua Singh