Dear Editor,
I hope the PPP, AFC and APNU/PNC are listening to the people of Guyana who were disgusted with the performance of Gecom after the November 28, 2011 election. The Guyanese people want change. They want to see serious reform of this entity to remove the taint of incompetence and governmental financial manipulation that hangs over it. I know the tripartite talks, another potential doorway to unified political nonsense at the expense of the disaffected voice of the people, will address the issue of what to do with Gecom. Here are some suggestions. Firstly, they should remove the anachronism of a permanent election commission. It makes no logical sense for the same commission to continue election after election, and the public certainly harbours little faith in the integrity of the electoral process and the commission itself, since this is a country known for electoral paranoia and suspicion. They should make it simple by removing the entire commission within three months of a completed election and appointing a new one.
Secondly, this nonsense of the Ministry of Finance determining funding for Gecom should be halted. Gecom should be funded directly from Parliament drawing from the Consolidated Fund or from some special fund established to fund it. Gecom should not be financially dependent on or hamstrung by the government of the day. Thirdly, this farce of Gecom being composed of purely political appointees should stop. The governing party should not be able to pick half of the commission at will. It should be changed to a process whereby every political party that wins a seat in Parliament must get an automatic seat on the commission, and the remainder would go to independents, members who have no political connection or affiliation. If this arrangement is applied to the present political reality, it would result in one seat each for the PPP, APNU/PNC and AFC for a total of three seats on Gecom. Independents would automatically get four seats leading to a total of seven seats controlled by a majority of independents.
If there is disagreement over who in Guyana is politically independent, then such independent members should be retired members of the Commonwealth (or more appropriately Caricom) judiciaries. The election commission must have independent members in addition to the political appointees for it to become a proper representative electoral body. The members of the commission should elect one of their own as chairman, or the chairman must be one of the independents. Fourthly, this foolish restriction on membership of the commission being limited to only Guyanese residents should be removed. This would enable foreigners and overseas Guyanese to serve primarily as independent commissioners. Fifthly, Gecom’s internal operations should be cleaned up to ensure the commission becomes a fully efficient organization. They must remove all the bottlenecks and red tape. Sixthly, Parliament should ensure that more transparent voting systems and procedures are implemented to facilitate better elections and faster and more accurate results.
Make no bones about it, the sanctity and sanitization of Gecom is tied to the political future of this country. A reformed Gecom, devoid of interference and running on autonomy, actually aids the demise of ethnic voting rooted in ethnic insecurity/security. If the people have full faith in the independence of the election body, they will have greater faith in the premise that it is difficult for any party to rig an election and get away with it.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell