Main opposition coalition APNU today derided PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee for what it said was his inventing of problems in the preliminary voters list.
APNU in a statement today also pointed out that there are several places where a large number of objections to names on the list have been lodged but that many of those people are still alive.
The APNU statement follows:
During the entire period of the claims and objections period, Mr. Clement Rohee, General Secretary of the PPP, has been lamenting the process of claims and objections. One of the spurious claims is that the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) is padded; he has called for a “transparent” list.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) holds no brief for GECOM but surely Mr. Rohee is inventing issues to support his allegations.
It must be noted that all aspects of the Registration exercise are done in keeping with the law and set rules. For example, in the case of the deceased, all reported deaths to GECOM are duly deleted from the list. Can Mr. Rohee say whether, as the Minister in charge of the General Registrar’s Office (GRO), that list is updated and has been submitted to GECOM?
It is unfortunate also that Mr. Rohee’s allegation of a padded list with dead persons is inaccurate. It illustrates the inefficiency of the PPP’s General Secretary and his field staff whom he claims submitted the field information.
A cursory look at a few regions give us a revealing example of this issue. Region No. 3 – Plantain Walk Office 225 objections were submitted. Worthy of note is that out of that amount, 212 alone are from Den Amstel but, more than that, many of those are people who are alive and well and certainly existing.
This repeats itself in all other regions. In Region No. 5 – Mr. Rohee reported that 454 persons are on the list who should not be there. His Party’s submission to GECOM for objections is 367 with a focus to take off residents of Hopetown from the list. Many of these persons are prominent people – Teachers, Clerk, Mechanic, etc.
Clearly, we believe that Mr. Clement Rohee and his party are fearful of facing the upcoming polls. Hence, his intentions are clear:
- To blame GECOM.
- To employ delaying tactics for the holding of elections.
- To prepare the wicket to cry ‘foul’ when they lose the elections.
I want to be very clear that APNU wants a clean and transparent list of electors. We do not subscribe to the disenfranchisement of any elector regardless of his or her ethnicity. Let it be known also that APNU too has its field staff who are doing their fieldwork. We urge GECOM to do its best and produce a transparent list of electors so that all concerned can be happy.