PNC’s call for new house-to-house registration reeks desperation – PPP

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Friday said it has noted the desperate call by General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), Amna Ally, for a new house-to-house registration.
According to the party, it was after the 2015 General and Regional Elections that the PPP called not only for a new house-to-house registration by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), but for electronic voting utilising enhanced

biometrics with a paper-ballot trail which could be audited.
“Having ignored our calls, the PNC, having completed almost three years in Government, is now making calls for a new house-to-house registration. After the completion of two cycles of continuous registration and two periods of claims and objections, the PNC has discovered the harsh reality that its supporters are not heeding their calls to register,” the PPP said on Friday.
This reluctance to engage in the process, the Party noted, is as a result of the despondency precipitated from the economic hardships that the PNC Government continue to stack on the backs of Guyanese.
“The visionless PNC Government through its woefully inept management, not only decimated a once vibrant economy, but has made it virtually impossible for Guyanese, including their own supporters, to eke out a living after falsely promising a good life. Their failed economic policies have removed confidence from local and foreign investors, thereby compounding the woes of a now wary Guyanese populace,” the PPP said.
It added that house-to-house registration is a meticulous process that necessitates a protracted time period for its completion and accuracy. Therefore, “having realised that its support is diminishing, this desperate call for a new house-to-house registration by the PNC three years hence, can only be seen as a deliberate

attempt to postpone or even derail Local Government Elections (LGE) scheduled for later this year and General and Regional Elections constitutionally due in 2020.”
The PPP added that it is urging all Guyanese not to be misled by a now worried and desperate PNC through its usual diversionary tactics.
On Tuesday, the PPP had expressed some level of satisfaction over the fact that GECOM and various stakeholders are engaged in a process to update and sanitise the list of registered electors. However, the Party is also calling for due diligence to be exercised.
One of the tasks undertaken by GECOM and stakeholders is to cleanse the list of deceased persons, based upon information generated by the General Registrar’s Office (GRO), which is responsible for the issuance of certificates of death. This is something the Party has repeatedly called for.
“The PPP calls upon GECOM to exercise greater care and due diligence in their attempts to sanitise the list. We will continue to partner with GECOM and other stakeholders, in a concerted effort, to produce a list of registered electors that is accurate and whose integrity can withstand objective scrutiny,” it stated.
The removal of names of persons who have died from the list of registered electors is a responsibility of GECOM and is guided by strict laws and rules, the Party reminded. Only on the basis of a certified list of persons who have died, issued by the GRO, can GECOM remove a person’s name.
“It is, therefore, imperative that we emphasise that names cannot be removed from the list on the ground that persons are dead, unless confirmation is received from the GRO,” the PPP asserted.
The Party therefore noted that GECOM issued five lists of persons who have died between December 2015 and March 2016. One of the lists, according to them, is of persons who have died but whose names are not on the list of registered electors (that is persons who never registered).
The PPP said it has conducted a review of this particular list and has discovered a significant number of names which are in fact on the list of registered electors. “This list is, therefore, not accurate. As a result, the names of deceased persons will continue to be on the list of registered electors,” it pointed out.
In March, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo called for an audit to be done on the digitisation of records at the General Registrar’s Office (GRO). His comments were followed by Citizenship Minister Winston Felix, who claimed that the process is transparent and one that does not include partisanship.