Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Justice (ret’d) James Patterson yesterday disclosed that attempts are being made by both internal and external sources to derail the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), while accusing politicians of stoking racial division.
“I find that very troubling—when there seems to be quislings and fifth columnists in the camp,” Patterson told a press conference at the GECOM headquarters, in Kingston, Georgetown.
“It seems, too, that integrity has been out in a blind trust. It seems to be that our politicians have retreated into ethno-political camps. That has got to stop if this country is to move forward,” he further said.
The “inestimable wealth to come by the existence of oil,” he added, “seems to emasculate commonsense and good judgement. Another source of antipathy of the races. This has got to stop. I personally have done all that is humanly possible to weld the opposing factions together. It seems that things are getting worse.”
Patterson also said, “It is even more sad, to see that the default position of our politicians seem to be to play the racial card.”
Asked to give an example, he said, a commissioner complained that GECOM “has deliberately been putting more Afro Guyanese in positions than Indo Guyanese. That is patently not so. I think they have put it to the test by asking the Ethnic Relations Commission to intervene. That is still in the process.”
Asked what the “designs and machinations” he referred to were, Patterson said “Not at this stage. They will emerge.”
He added, “I might make revelations that I shouldn’t.”
Asked if GECOM commissioners and staff were among those trying to stymie the elections process, Patterson said, “I exclude neither.”
Asked to identify the external forces and whether they included international organisations, civil society or the media, Patterson said, “I will not answer to that. I know that private discussions around here are disseminated to others outside of here almost as soon as the meeting ends. That is as far as I will go.”
He added, “I have come to these meetings with a certain background of propriety and I cannot understand why as soon as we finish a meeting here what we have spoken gets out to you folks.”
On whether he will consider demitting office given what appears to be “racial bickering” among GECOM commissioners, Patterson said, “If or when that occasion arises, you will know.” However, he said, he was not ruling it out.
Race card
In response to a question on efforts being made to address the ethnic composition at GECOM, he said, “I personally don’t see how some people can look at that. My experience as a person is that the people closest to me don’t look like me. It seems that the racial card only comes out when there is some advantage to gain.”
On the same issue, Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, who shared the press conference with Patterson, said he supervises 380 permanent staff members. As far as race in the work place is concerned, he said, “Sometimes I do not think we have that.”
As head of the Secretariat, he said, he has to weld the staff into one unit to function effectively to “deliver a free, fair and transparent product to the satisfaction of all.”
“We have been successful in the past. Things will come to the fore, no doubt. We are multicultural society,” he said, before adding that the Secretariat has been resolving those issues when they appear.
Asked if there was any deliberate effort to ensure ethnic diversity was reflected in the senior management of GECOM Secretariat, Patterson said, “We are making deliberate efforts to get the best people for the job. Sometimes that collides with ethnic quantities. For example, like in the interior, you don’t expect to find the same racial mix as there is on the coastland and that should answer your question. Our accent is on quality, our accent is on getting the best people to do the job. Personally, I would make no apologies for that.”
Ultimately, when making a choice, he said, “quality, trust, [and] grace” are criteria considered. “I see nothing wrong with that. I won’t quarrel with anyone who disagrees. I speak for myself,” he added.
Patterson said he was “sad to have to report” that since he took the office of Chairman, “It seems to be that integrity has been put in a blind trust. Fortunately, I have a cadre of operatives who don’t yield to that sort of description.”
He could not overstate, he said, “that the best days of Guyana are ahead. I don’t know how many Guyanese realise and recognise that the existence and the function of the GECOM are critical to democracy. So anybody who wants to destablise its work is tampering with democracy (and) it doesn’t help that oil seems to be the harbinger of hope.”
Of several court cases filed in the courts against GECOM, Patterson said, “the understandable use of the legal system has become a tool of disruption.”
He clarified that he was not saying that people who are aggrieved should not have access to the courts, but added that he believes that a lawyer may file an action in the court “for the misuse of the legal system by any particular individual to have transgressed access to the courts.”
