Dear Editor,
Thanks for letting the public know that the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission has been appointed Chairperson of the Guyana Livestock Authority and for commenting on the matter in your editorial. With respect to all concerned, the thing is a non-starter. It will not do for the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission to be seen as knowingly flouting the constitution.
The idea that ‘politicians’ consulted by the present multi-disciplined Chair, long borrowed from his chosen vocation, found nothing wrong with his accepting another challenging appointment shows where some of them are. I believe that if a cow, or other member of the livestock family had been consulted it would better appreciate the threat posed by his divided attention.
We no longer live in the days when the minister had responsibility for national registration and elections by unlawful assignment under article 107. These have been effectively shifted to their proper location, the Guyana Elections Commission as dictated by the constitution.
The requirement that the office be a full-time one was added to basic law by the Constitutional Reform Committee, a multiparty body, and approved by the National Assembly. There can be no doubt about the intention of the law-makers. I hope this is not an act of ‘democratic centralism’ approved by the PPP’s higher organs. Has the cabinet power to amend the constitution?
What the elections commission needs is not less attention from its Chairman, the only full-time member, but empowerment with financial self control, subject only to the Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee.
The real violation of the constitution comes from the cabinet which is advised by the Attorney General. He should advise the nation where he stands with this appointment.
While on this theme I wonder who is the legal advisor to the Guyana Elections Commission. It ought not to be the Attorney General who also advises the elected political government.
Yours faithfully,
Eusi Kwayana
