Dear Editor,
Please permit me to respond to comments attributed to Mr Robert Corbin, Leader of the Opposition and of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) in an article titled ‘Corbin raises doubts about preparation for continuous registration,’ which was published in the Stabroek News of September 5.
According to the article, Mr Corbin claims that ahead of the start of a new continuous registration cycle the main opposition party still has reservations about the preparations made by the Guyana Elections Commission to conduct the process, and that he was yet to receive information about what it was proposing to do. This is a very strange position to be taken by the Leader of the Opposition, who, in all likelihood, is in possession of salient and relevant data emanating from Gecom.
The conduct of registration of citizens is a statutory responsibility that is governed by legislation. Such legislation does not make it obligatory for Gecom to formally inform any political party about the conduct of any such exercise. Nevertheless, Gecom does strive to keep stakeholders informed every step of the way. Also, there is provision for Gecom to invite political parties to appoint scrutineers to be accredited by Gecom to monitor the registration process. This is what the custom and practice have been, and this is what was done in the case of the registration exercise in question.
Mr Corbin has acknowledged that “disclosures were made at a meeting with parties last Wednesday and they (the parties) were asked to have scrutineers present to monitor the process,” yet he argued that correspondence should have been sent to permit stakeholders to look at what would be happening. Gecom is obligated to comply with the legal provisions insofar as the registration of persons is concerned. This is what we do and did in this case; on such activity we will be judged.
Mr Corbin further expressed concern that arrangements had not been finalised for some of the schools proposed to serve as registration centres (how would he know this, being as uninformed as he claims); he was also concerned about payment for scrutineers which, according to him, was an issue after the last claims and objections process was conducted.
Gecom held a press conference two Fridays ago and gave concise and comprehensive information about the continuous registration process. This was published by the print and electronic media. Moreover, Gecom has been publishing a full page advertisement about the continuous registration exercise and, separately, the schedule of the registration process.
With respect to Mr Corbin’s dissatisfaction with the public education campaign associated with the registration process, it must be recalled that I had said that, in addition to the practice mentioned in the preceding paragraph, a public awareness campaign for the implementation of continuous registration has been undertaken. I had reported that this approach involves providing relevant information with the help of all available media, including at grass roots levels (via registration offices), at schools nationwide, and through civic/religious/cultural organisations, about the exercise.
Furthermore, it was clearly stated that notices delineating the criteria and necessary source documents, as well as the hours during which registration transactions could be conducted, will be publicized up to the conclusion of the exercise. We have already seen this being done via the print media.
Now to the comment made by Mr Corbin about the payment of scrutineers. It has long been public knowledge that those scrutineers appointed by the governing party and the joint opposition parties in Parliament respectively – and accredited by Gecom – will be paid. At the Gecom press conference, I had pointed out that scrutineers from the governing and combined opposition political parties will be appointed as required by law, to monitor the continuous registration process. Chief Election Officer, Mr Gocool Boodoo in responding to a pertinent question had made it clear that the commission has the money to carry out the continuous registration exercise. This includes expenditure associated with payment of temporary staff, as well as scrutineers whose involvement is integral to the transparency of the process and acceptability of the outcomes.
Yours faithfully,
Steve Surujbally
Chairman
Guyana Elections Commission
