This illegal House-to-House Registration must stop!

Dear Editor,
This illegal registration must stop. Over the weekend the police were called in by a GECOM enumerator working the Herstelling area to arrest some people who were then taken to the Providence Police Station after they refused to take part in the illegal process of House-to-House Registration, knowing that all Guyanese have until October 30, according to GECOM, to do so.
The enumerators went to the resident’s home and called out for the people to register, the women very politely showed no interest in the registration, however, passersby made varying comments.
As a result, the enumerators were embarrassed and they went and took the police to the residence where the incident allegedly took place. The enumerators told the police that a person wearing a red shirt cursed them. On arrival, nobody was wearing a red shirt.
The police then asked a peace-loving male who was busy doing some work in the yard to put on a shirt and accompany them to the station.
At the station, the enumerators, realising that they could not have pointed out the person who cursed them, decided to shamelessly accuse the innocent man of indecent language.
However, as the entire village was coming out to picket the station, better sense prevailed. With the polite intervention by an elder person, the women on the bench were allowed to leave and the police released the boy who was already in the cell on five thousand dollars bail.
It is clear that the GECOM enumerators are overstepping their boundaries and getting argumentative with residents. On many occasions, the enumerators would threaten residents to register despite the residents might not have their source documents available.
The police should certainly look into those allegations from the residents against some of the enumerators.
Enumerators should also be aware that by GECOM’s proclamation, all Guyanese have until October 30 to register if they so desire so no action can be taken against anyone prior to the date. It is also the enumerator’s responsibility to visit and make revisits to homes to ensure persons are registered in keeping with the Registration Act.

Respectfully,
Neil Kumar