Promulgating distorted, contorted information targeted at GECOM’s DCEO

Dear Editor,
Over the past few months, prominent political figures have been consistently promulgating distorted and contorted information targeted at me in regard to specific events of March, 2020. Amidst the frequent protests in front of the GECOM Headquarters, and through press conferences and other programmes aired via social media, there have been numerous calls for my resignation as well as that of the GECOM Chairman.
Hereafter, while I may refer to the Chairman, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, it is not my intention to speak on her behalf, since I believe she has adequately addressed relevant issues, including the call for a “clean voters’ list” and matters related to the allegations of “voter impersonation” at the Elections in March 2020.
Mr Aubrey Norton, MP, Leader of the Opposition, in a press conference held on November 8, is quoted as saying: “Additionally, there is credible evidence that the Deputy CEO is a PPP plant that is carrying out the diktats of the PPP, and is compromised and unfit to be an employee at GECOM. It must be recalled that it was the said Aneal Giddings that disappeared with GECOM’s computer hard drive in 2020 in pursuance of the PPP agenda…He is a political partisan, and cannot be expected to be part of a free and fair elections process.”
Mr Norton, again on 5th December, in a video clip posted on the People’s National Congress Reform’s Facebook platform, highlighted: “The Chairman of the Commission has proven that she cannot be impartial… The Deputy CEO, who has responsibility for information technology, is compromised; and, in the 2020 election, he is known to have moved off with the hard drive of the computer in pursuance of the PPP agenda.”
At another press conference on 6th December, Mr. Ganesh Mahipaul, MP and Executive Member of the PNCR, stated: “A lot of things were also reported about Aneal Giddings during that same period. I think there was some story about some flash-drive or some server…some technology thing. I am not too versed in technology…and Aneal Giddings ended up being now the Deputy CEO…A lot of things have been reported.”
He went on immediately after to say, “The question is: What has been proven? And the answer is: Absolutely nothing to date.” While feigning ignorance in the former statement, I do not believe that latter statement by Mr. Mahipaul was intended to defend me, especially since most of the utterances came from his leader; but it was, nevertheless, perfectly in order.
Editor, I will not burden you with the myriad of other snippets of disinformation that have found their way to the Guyanese people, both locally and in the diaspora, through prominent broadcasts of known characters and entities on this matter. Suffice it to say that I believe the time has come for me to provide the facts for the consumption of all who may be interested. Some of what is recorded herein was also tendered as evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into the Elections of 2nd March, 2020.
Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act (Cap 1:03), prior to its amendment in 2022, and which applied to the General and Regional Elections of 2020, states as follows:
(1) The Chief Election Officer shall, after calculating the total number of valid votes of electors which have been cast for each list of candidates, on the basis of the votes counted and the information furnished by returning officers under section 84 (11), ascertain the result of the election in accordance with sections 97 and 98.
(2) The Chief Election Officer shall prepare a report manually and in electronic form in terms of section 99 for the benefit of the Commission, which shall be the basis for the Commission to declare and publish the election results under section 99.
Presiding officers are responsible for the counting of votes after the close of poll on Election Day. This process culminates in the production of Statements of Poll (one for the General component and another for the Regional component). These SOPs are transmitted to their respective Returning Officers and a separate copy provided to the Chief Election Officer. The amendments made in 2022 now avail a copy of the SOP to the Chairman.
As the Information Technology Manager during the 2020 period, I was given the specific mandate of managing and executing the tabulation of Statements of Poll of the Chief Election Officer (herein referred to as the CEO’s tabulation). This process was parallel to that of each Returning Officer and is not a requirement in the legislation. Notwithstanding, and in order to comply with Section 96 (2), the CEO’s tabulation is a sort of check and balance to the work of Returning Officers, and delivers a complete box-by-box report in digital form to aid in expediency for transmission to the Commission.
On 5th March, 2020, many would recall the infamous bomb scare which caused the Guyana Police Force to request an immediate evacuation of the Ashmin’s Building. It is important to note that this building served several purposes:
i) the Office of the Returning Officer of Region #4; ii) the Media Centre (both located on the ground floor); iii) the Tabulation Centre (located on the 1st Floor); and the Office of the Chief Election Officer (located on the 2nd floor).
The Commission also had a space to conduct their meetings.
On receiving guidance from Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr Edgar Thomas, I instructed all staff under my supervision to evacuate the building and proceed to the assigned muster point. I, together with another technical staff, remained behind to secure SOPs and other documents which were in process, as well as to execute the backup protocols on the server, which had a significant amount of data already encoded therein.
During this time, the then Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers entered the facility and inquired whether the backup could be placed on removable media and handed over to her. This instruction was, in fact, a departure from best practice and standards outlined in our protocols, since such data is usually secured by IT personnel and deposited at a predetermined secure location. Nevertheless, I complied with this aberration.
Considering the extant threat, I instructed my staff to power down and disconnect the server so that it could be moved to a more secure location, especially since I had surrendered my only copy of the backup data. The server was transported by me out of the building, against the protests of DCEO Myers, and into the parking lot of the Ashmin’s complex, where I placed it in my vehicle and proceeded to the evacuation point, since there was no other secure area in the building. Multiple attempts to communicate with then CEO Keith Lowenfield for guidance were futile.
At no point in time did I “disappear” with either the server or any component therefrom. It remained safely inside my locked vehicle until it was returned to the Tabulation Centre later during that same day, when the Guyana Fire Service completed their work.
To add a bit more to this, many days elapsed, and it was not until the 16th March 2020 that I received a signed internal memorandum from DCEO Myers (copied to the CEO) wherein I was instructed to “provide a cogent reason for actions observed at GECOM’s Command Centre for GRE 2020”. In her missive, she outlined what she considered to be “the unauthorised removal of the agency’s server”, and further stated that “…cited above could be considered a breach of the election procedures”, and I was given 48 hours to respond. I diligently complied, and in my response, (copied to both the CEO and Chairman), I detailed the account and my reasons for extracting the server from the Tabulation Centre. I also respectfully requested a copy of these “election procedures” which I allegedly had breached.
Editor, I received no return correspondence, no phone call from either Ms. Myers, Mr. Lowenfield or Justice Singh. Nothing. The Commission met on numerous occasions afterwards, and to my knowledge, no discussion was held in regard to this issue. As a matter of fact, subsequent to Order 60 of 2020, the Commission, through the Chief Election Officer, appointed me to be the Tabulation Supervisor of the National Recount. This decision undoubtedly proved that the Commission found no issue with my actions cited above.
Lastly, I will completely disregard statements which paint me as a political operative. I have not done, nor will I ever do in the execution of my duties, anything that favours any political position in support of any political party or their agents. My duty is to the people of Guyana, in accordance with relevant law and Commission policy directives for which I have sworn an oath.
It is my hope that, in an effort to allay any concerns of the electorate or stakeholders of the elections process, this letter provides some clarity into what actually transpired on March 5, 2020.

Sincerely,
Aneal Giddings
Deputy Chief Election Officer