The Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC) and Youth Challenge Guyana yesterday launched their ‘Vote Like a Boss’ campaign to rejuvenate the energy surrounding the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) and increase the number of youth, women, and special interest voters.
Speaking at the launch at Herdmanston Lodge, GNYC member Tricia Teekah said that the organisation is proud to continue the Vote Like a Boss initiative, which had been created last year for the general and regional elections.
It is hoped that this year’s collaboration between the two organisations, the private sector, and the public will impact young voters and to educate them about their civic responsibilities, the voting process and encourage them to turn up on elections day, March 18. “… And this is seen as an historic event even in Guyana’s young democracy, especially since it is occurring in the year that Guyana is celebrating her 50th independence anni-versary,” she said.
The polls, although constitutionally due every three years, was last held in 1994.
For the LGE, Teekah said, the theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Excite, Engage, Educate and Inspire’ and she explained that the intended outcome is also increased dialogue on local government in all the communities around the country. She said that in delivering the key goals, the campaign will set up hubs around the country, which will respond to the needs of the voters and candidates to foster and facilitate grassroots-level engagements.
In addition to the hubs, there is a broad-based communication strategy where new and traditional media platforms, drama and entertainment will be used at public spaces to “excite and engage every voter.” An online elections monitoring tool, which will be a source for tracking the voter education campaign, will be used to receive reports from voters online and which can be tracked to the communities and then sent to the representatives of those communities. She added that the private sector will also be involved as there will be incentives and promotions offered to voters. “Be sure to look out for ‘Ink Up Link Up’ and ‘Thank Gosh It’s LGE,’” she said. The ‘Ink Up Link Up’ will allow voters who show their inked fingers to be able to get incentives from participating vendors and organisations.
She added that in addition to the campaign educating and inspiring voters, they will also have LGE ambassadors in communities assisting with the polling stations. “We will continue to empower community members, which is like the fuel for the engine to the local community to a healthy lifestyle..,” she added.
Dimitri Nicholson, of Youth Challenge Guyana, also stated that the collaboration will strengthen friendships and relationships in the communities.
Luis Garcia, of Counterpart International, also praised the campaign and said he hoped every citizen would find a way to contribute to the historic elections.
Speaking on behalf of the private sector, Gerry Gouveia stated that the local polls are the foundation of our democracy and democracy across the world and while it has been almost a foreign concept to the country, it is still very important.
“Many times we would engage the City Council over the years. Those who know enough know that central government is not responsible for the communities but you are and we remember the days of the village office and remember the days when those village officers played a very important role in our communities,” he said, while stating that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) was very pleased that LGE is here. However, he said, while businesspersons are enthusiastic, it bothers them that they seem to be the only ones who are enthusiastic. “You look across the country and you listen to the dialogue and there seems to be a loss of energy. Our local government, which really would touch every one of us, we would feel it in our daily lives, there seems to be a lack of energy,” he said.
Therefore, he was pleased with the work of the young people and their campaign. He said the private sector will also be involved in disseminating the information throughout the country and encouraging companies and organisations and their staff to vote.
He added that while Georgetown was in a deplorable state before, it was happening all over the country and the fault was solely in the failure of the local government system.
Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Dr Steve Surujbally said that while it is difficult to manage, because it is like several mini-elections and this is the first time in 22 years that it was happening, there is also a new complex system that they had never tried before that is being implemented. However, he said, the Gecom staff is prepared and has been for a long time for the LGE. “Over the last few elections, we have had peace. From bullets we went to ballots. We have placed systems in the menu and measures that could make and must make elections ‘unriggable,’” he said. He boldly stated that it is almost near impossible to rig elections.
He said in doing research he has found that the number of youth voters around the world was astonishing and it is even worse in more developed countries. He is hoping that the campaign can increase the outcome.
Chargé d’Affaires of US Embassy Bryan Hunt said he was baffled that Guyana has functioned for more than a decade without LGE and asserted that the real challenge lies with getting people out to vote. “While Gecom has been preparing very hard and is 100% ready, the question isn’t if Gecom is ready, it is will the people turn out? Are we going to have an election where the majority of Guyanese go out and cast their votes… or will we have 10% to 12% voting?” he questioned.
He added that if such is the case then there will be trouble as there needs to be legitimacy, which wouldn’t happen if 10% to 12% of persons voted. “That’s why the exercise we are engaged in here is so tremendously important. We have to convince Guyanese to go to the polls on elections day. While getting young people to vote is a huge challenge, and getting anyone to vote in LGE is even more challenging, getting anyone to vote in LGE when there is a complex system when they haven’t been allowed to vote in LGE for more than two decades is like pushing a rock up a very large hill,” he added, while stating that the international community is 100% behind LGE and is going to remain committed in trying to get the rock to the top of the hill and making sure that Guyanese go out and vote. He also noted that the candidates play major roles in getting people from their communities out to vote and implored them to be more involved.
