Faced with a delay in both the start of ID card production and the completion of legislative reforms, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has ruled out the possibility of holding local government elections this year.
Indignant at accusations by the major political parties that the commission has been slothful, pussyfooting and incompetent, GECOM Chair-man Dr Steve Surujbally yesterday defended the body’s work, while noting that it had stayed away from pointing fingers at any person or entity. He insisted at a press conference at GECOM’s HQ that the most important stakeholder is the voting public and that it was counterproductive for anyone to confuse them. “I think it is shameful to attack and stigmatize GECOM, which is the most important tile in this democratic process. It must be recognized that the management and implementation of any electoral process is technical in nature,” he said, while insisting that the Secretariat’s technicians be allowed to do their work. “This state of affairs must never be perceived to be inadequacies of GECOM,” he declared.
Although the commission had been initially working towards meeting a November 30, 2009 deadline, Surujbally demurred on identifying a new date for readiness, pointing out that many decisions still have to be made that rely on input from other stakeholders, including the parties in the parliament working on crucial reforms. He was, however, hopeful that these decisions could be arrived at before the parliamentary recess on August 10, failing which the commission’s timeliness could be compromised.
Asked for a deadline for the holding of the polls in a worst case scenario, he refused to speculate, noting that completion dates would not be put up until the contractors for the production of ID cards have arrived.
Surujbally emphasized that a valid register, which has been the issue of contention, is being prepared and this is the most important element.
On the status of the production of the National Register of Registrants (NRR), Surujbally reported that GECOM is currently at the stage where the list of registrants now contains valid registration transactions, the “fundament” for the NRR. Copies of the Divisional/Sub-divisional list of registrants are at the point of being displayed simultaneously in all of the divisions across the country and a public notice will be published, directing all registrants to check for the inclusion and accuracy of their respective data.
Though he did not say exactly when the NRR would be sent to key stakeholders, Surujbally argued that there was no “pussyfooting” where this was concerned. “…Even though a few [registration transaction] were being scrutinized did not mean we did not have the final product,” he said. He added that the commission could get on with business if a decision could be made to decide the fate of duplicates.
Also, an agreement has been reached within the commission that in keeping with the agreement signed with government and the parliamentary political parties electronic copies of NRR will be sent to them with a view to giving them the opportunity to sign on to it before it is certified by the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Gocool Boodoo.
Surujbally revealed that it was only on February 17 this year, almost a year after the completion of the house-to-house registration that funds were provided for the fingerprint and cross referencing exercise. The results, which were received on March 3, 2009, showed that there were 280 cases of genuine duplicates and 84 suspected duplicated. After these results were received, GECOM immediately commenced internal investigations on these cases, he said.
The commission in the name of thoroughness did not go ahead with the production of the NRR at this time and instructed that documented summonses signed by CEO Boodoo be dispatched to persons associated with the duplicate registrations which require further investigations. In some cases the people did not come, notices were then sent to remind them. Surujbally stated that those persons were given two weeks notice to present themselves at given locations on given dates and times. On those summons notices, he said, persons were also advised that if they did not present themselves as required their registration transactions would be cancelled.
ID cards
ID card production will now start in mid October and will be followed by a distribution process that is expected to be concluded at the end of December. Highlighting the delays in this regard, Surujbally pointed out that there was some deliberation over whether the 2007 agreement for the national house-to-house registration also included the production of cards. He said there was no specific mention of this and some deliberations had to be pursued. He said there was also consideration of the multi-usage ID which brought with it additional difficulties, which included collaboration with the National Insurance Scheme to include NIS numbers and also with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the cards to include TIN numbers.
NIS had already gone ahead with the production of its own enhanced cards while the law only speaks to GRA’s head Khurshid Sattaur being the signatory on TIN certificates. On the other hand only Boodoo is authorized to sign national ID cards. “So all these complications… We went ahead with our decision and government bought on to our argument and the money was released,” he said.
Since June 2007, the commission had agreed to the production of new ID cards with the contractor De La Rue, which was approached and responded with a document indicating cost etc. However, Surujbally said it was not until February 18, 2009 that the commission received the signal that funds would be provided for this exercise.
Money was paid to the company on June 11 and payment was acknowledged on June 16. The company required 90% upfront payment before signing on to the contract, from when there would be a four-month period to the start of production. The first ID cards are likely to be produced around mid-October and completion likely on November 20 and distribution should conclude by the end of the year.
Delimitation of
constituencies
As stated before, GECOM will not change existing boundaries but will seek to establish constituencies within and in conjunction with the legal and administrative framework of other regional systems. It said too that adjustments, if any, would be made using GECOM’s administrative authority.
GECOM has decided too that operational guidelines and principles pertaining to this exercise will be determined by the commission and shared with stakeholders at the appropriate time.
However it said the implementation of the foregoing is hinged directly on the passage of the proposed new system for local government elections. The process should be completed by the end of October 2009.
GECOM stated that it will be guided by the mandatory order to be signed by the
minister of local government relative to the number of councillors and by extension the number of constituencies for the respective local authority areas. The Minister will be advised by GECOM on this matter, the statement said.
Additionally, the statement said preparations have started to conduct the claims and objections exercise to produce the Official List of Electors for the holding of local government elections. Training for this has been completed but refresher courses will be held before the activity commences. This process will not begin until ID cards are distributed and demarcation of boundaries completed.
Meanwhile, Surujbally revealed that the commission is now currently fine-tuning a comprehensive strategy for embarking on a civic and voter education programme for the local government polls. However, he noted that such a programme cannot be fully implemented until the proposed new system for local government election is approved by parliament and becomes law.
As a result, the programme will initially focus on those aspects of the electoral process for local government elections which are not hinged on parliamentary approval of the proposed local government legislation. “If this is not done it will impact on our timeliness. We are hoping this can move with alacrity,” he declared.
The education programme is to include the production and installation of suitable billboards and banners at strategic locations, the production and distribution of flyers, visits to schools and publication of notices in local newspapers. Appropriate infomercials will also be produced for publication via radio and television.
