Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Dr. Steve Surujbally said yesterday that preparations are moving “inexorably towards elections” and thousands are set to register when the Claims and Objections period begins in another week.
The General Register Office (GRO) and the Ministry of Home Affairs have pushed within the past month to have persons registered through the provision of source documents and regularisation, Surujbally told Stabroek News.
GECOM is expecting thousands to register during the Claims and Objections period, which is scheduled to begin on May 9. Surujbally also noted that provisions are in place to facilitate the fresh cross-matching of fingerprints.
He said the preparations are going smoothly while pointing out that “things are now in statutory hands.” He said too that the Commission is still on track to deliver general and regional elections, while adding that no difficulties have been reported.
Surujbally observed that the GRO has been working assiduously to provide unregistered persons with birth certificates. Still, he is unhappy that some persons whose births were unregistered have to struggle due to legal requirements.
By law an individual whose birth is unregistered is required to obtain a statement from the midwife, but this has posed tremendous difficulties according to the GECOM Chairman. He said that provisions are being made to assist those individuals given the problems the requirement poses.
Surujbally opined that the political parties need to stand with GECOM as it labours to assist persons who are without source documents. The problem has not been fully resolved, he said, and he also expressed concern as to why some people have waited until now to obtain source documents. “When the combined political parties signed the document for house-to-house registration on June 13, 2007, people were advised to get source documents. It has been some four years and still some people have not looked into their birth certificates,” he said.
Commenting on an issue which had been raised in the past, Surujbally noted that a fair amount of persons in the country hold British passports and have been unable to register because they failed to regularise their status over the years. He pointed out that GECOM cannot register persons who failed to go into the Ministry of Home Affairs and completed the regularisation process.
And with respect to the identification cards still in GECOM’s possession, he said people have been uplifting the cards but thousands still remain with the Commission. He was optimistic that before the elections, the cards would be in the hands of the respective voters.
Surujbally was questioned about GECOM’s constitutional mandate as it relates to campaign financing, and he referred the question to Chief Election Officer Gocool Boohoo. He mentioned the Alliance For Change (AFC) motion before the National Assembly saying, “I think people know the law and should follow it.”
Meanwhile, AFC MP Sheila Holder told Stabroek News that GECOM has a responsibility to ensure impartiality, among other things as it relates to elections campaigns. She cited Article 162 1 (C) of the Constitution and provisions outlined in the Representation of the People Act, saying the Commission has an obligation to ensure that untruths are not peddled during elections campaigns. “They have a referee role to play and we expect them to play that role for this upcoming election,” Holder added. Holder piloted a motion on campaign financing in Parliament on Thursday, but the government used its majority to send it to a special select committee, after effecting an amendment that Holder said gutted it of its original intent.