The plan by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to produce new voter identification cards for all eligible Guyanese has caused government to re-examine factors impacting the time this would involve.
While the government supports the production of multi-use identification cards in time for the next general and regional elections, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon told the media on Thursday that the identification cards which were used in the previous elections ought to suffice.
He noted that there would be fewer cards for GECOM to produce since it would only have to cater for those who did not register before the last elections and those who would have attained the age of eligibility.
Luncheon said that Cabinet had examined the high costs related to the demands by some for another new ID card, disputes about payment for scrutineers and accusations about the seemingly spendthrift behaviour of the commission and its secretariat, among other issues related to the ongoing registration exercise.
He said he believed that there were some efforts to fast track the government’s commitment for new ID cards in time for the local government polls rather than the next national and regional elections.
He further stated that more recently other issues have been bedevilling the registration exercise, including identity documents used by persons all their lives suddenly being found to be inaccurate, leading to talk about withdrawal from the registration exercise. “Many have been told that they cannot be registered in the names they have used all their lives, including all of the post-1992 free and fair elections of 1997, 2001 and 2006,” Luncheon said.
In this regard, he said Cabinet’s position is that the commission must act in a timely way to address these concerns and reassure Guyanese that this is a promise that will be honoured, adding that the government had already done its part by resolving the issue of payment of scrutineers.
Asked about whether the government felt that it was getting its money’s worth in the registration exercise, Luncheon responded: “Democracy is an expensive proposition – just that the process now seems to be bedevilled by factors and none of them are insurmountable.” He added that he had little fear in saying that if GECOM and stakeholders were to put their best foot forward, the financial and other commitments being made will be justified.
Efforts to contact the commission for a comment on Luncheon’s asser-tions proved futile.
