The main opposition PNCR yesterday said an investigation has found no evidence supporting claims of the “systematic falsification” of the party’s membership register ahead of its Biennial Delegates Congress.
Presenting the findings of an investigation of submissions made by nominee for leader, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, the Convenor of the Accreditation Committee Lance Carberry said that a verification exercise undertaken after the official claims and objections period did not dispute the integrity of either the general Membership Register, or the Delegates’ List. “Nothing in the documentation that Dr Van West-Charles has supplied is supporting his assertions,” Carberry told a press conference at Congress Place yesterday, later saying, “As far as I am concerned, the information at my disposal satisfies me that the membership list is in order… [and] the Delegates’ List, I believe, is in fact in order.”
Stabroek News understands that the Van West-Charles campaign remains dissatisfied with the investigation, saying that a representative of the stakeholders should have been involved to ensure transparency. In response to the findings of the investigation, this newspaper was told that there was concern that the investigation relied on the very persons implicated in the falsification of the documents to verify the claims.
Nevertheless, the campaign is insisting that in light of the clear call for change, it would continue to fight all the way to ensure the voice of members would be heard and represented at Congress.
Carberry said yesterday that Van West-Charles like any other candidate has a right to raise issues he thinks are legitimate. At the same time, he emphasised that candidates also have to respect his responsibility to investigate the issues and to honestly and faithfully present the results. He said: “If you are submitting something to me and I investigate it and I give you the results and you doubt that I have in fact done it then, therefore, why did you submit it to me in the first place?”
Van West-Charles had indicated to Carberry that a sample survey uncovered the names of 85 persons whom he alleged were either “dead, migrated or did not sign the membership application form” and information was supplied to enable a verification committee to probe. The details provided listed the names of 53 whom it was claimed did not sign their membership application forms, 15 whom it was claimed migrated and 20 whom it was claimed were dead.
Additionally, Van West-Charles had complained to Corbin that he had had limited access to the list of party members, saying that viewing of the register was suspended by the Central Executive Committee (CEC). But according to Carberry, four persons claiming to represent Van West-Charles were systematically transcribing the entire Membership Register, contrary to a CEC decision to safeguard the security and confidentiality of party membership. As a result, they were denied future access to the register until the Chairman of the Verification Committee obtained a written assurance, from Dr Van West-Charles, that the information so far transcribed has been securely stored and would be treated confidentially, Carberry explained, while mentioning that he spoke with him and advised that until the written assurance was received his representatives would not be admitted to inspect the register. “I want to make it clear that, contrary to the self-serving propaganda which was circulated on the internet and elsewhere, the inspection of the Membership Register was not suspended, what was suspended was the wholesale transcription of that register, by representatives of Dr Van West-Charles, until the requested written assurance was received from him,” Carberry added, saying up to yesterday no such assurance was received. “Obviously this is a political party-it’s not a sports club-and you have to be very careful; there are people who are members of this party and they would want to remain anonymous,” he said. He noted the dangers persons could be exposed to with the publication of their names, explaining that the knowledge that they are members of the party could possibly result in victimisation. “So we have to be extremely careful about the question of confidentiality and security of our members,” he added. (Stabroek News was told that Van West-Charles did give an assurance that the information would be kept confidential.)
‘Unsubstantiated’
Carberry said that sweeping statements, including the claim of the “systematic falsification of the party membership forms” and the “systematic padding of the membership register,” were unsupported by any of the information provided. Further, he noted that no information was provided to the verification committee to substantiate any of the allegations.
Nevertheless, he explained that requests were made to the membership department to extract the relevant source documents to be checked and subsequently the specific groups and regional officials were requested to provide further information and respond to the specific allegations. Although Carberry said the exercise was still in progress, he noted that based on the responses received so far a determination could be made as to the requirements for further investigation.
He revealed that of the names submitted, seven belonged to a group in Region 2, 18 to a group in Region 3, 12 to four groups in Region 4, 42 to four groups in Region 5, four to one group in Region 6 and five belonging to a group in Region 10.
Dealing with the claim about persons alleged not to have signed the application form, Carberry noted that no information was provided to the committee by Van West-Charles to indicate on what basis he could substantiate the allegation that the forms were not signed by the applicants. He explained that application forms are stored in the Party Secretariat and were not displayed for public viewing. As a result, the committee requested the extraction of the relevant membership forms from the party records for examination and a further enquiry was later made from the Regional and Group Officials. Of the 53 names submitted by Van West-Charles, Carberry said an examination of the forms revealed that they all had the purported signatures of the applicants. “The committee is in no position to verify the authenticity of the signatures, but sought to have the group and regional officials respond to the allegations,” he said, adding that in all cases the party group representatives contended that the signatures were authentic.
Given the time available, Carberry said limited further action would be possible before the Congress. He added that the numbers “would not seriously affect the delegate representation” of groups at Congress and noted that in any event objections were only made to names from 12 groups.
With regard to the persons claimed to be dead members, Carberry said the committee began the process by checking the source documents. Of the 20 names provided, he said five persons were reported to be alive. Eight were confirmed as dead by the group and the deaths were claimed to be recent, Carberry noted, saying that seven of them were already reported to the Secretariat by the group during the verification period and adjustments were made to the register.
Two of the names submitted were not found on the register, he added, while another was discovered to be listed as a result of a typographical error. Information was still outstanding on four of the names listed up to yesterday, he further reported.
On the claims of persons who migrated, Carberry noted that no information was provided to indicate the basis upon which the allegation was made. Based on requests by the committee, he said the groups were generally able to provide “reasonable explanations” for all of the names. Of the 15 names submitted, signed membership application forms were found for all of the members.
Seven persons were reported to be continuously resident in Guyana and never ever left, one of whom is a delegate to Congress, four were reported to be temporarily resident overseas, but visit regularly and insist on renewal whenever in Guyana, including a group Chairman who recently left for a short vacation but is due to return for the Congress. Three others were reported to be resident in Guyana, but are retired and spend extended vacations with their children overseas. They, however, insist on renewing their membership whenever in Guyana and they include a well-known stalwart of over 40 years membership, Carberry said.