Opposition-nominated commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) were not informed of any meeting to take place on Monday with diplomats from the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union (EU), Commissioner Sase Gunraj has said.
“We were not aware of any request from western diplomats to meet with staff of GECOM on the elections process or preparedness for elections. We were not aware of GECOM’s acquiescence to meet with them, and we were not aware that a meeting actually took place. We read of the meeting in the newspapers,” Gunraj told Stabroek News yesterday.
He added that the meeting, which took place on Monday without the commissioners, or at least the opposition-nominated commissioners being informed was “reprehensible, to say the least.”
Stabroek News was told that the diplomats were briefed by the GECOM Chairman, retired judge James Patterson, and the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield.
Gunraj said that he raised the issue at yesterday’s statutory meeting of the commission and he quoted Patterson as saying, “That is not a matter up for discussion.”
Gunraj added, “We do not know what information was given to the diplomats. We do not know what questions were asked. We do not know who was present from the commission, if anyone was.”
Such a meeting being held without informing them, he said, was “typical” of how GECOM is being administered.
Important events and decisions taken by the administrative staff, he noted, “we are not aware of. If it is not reported in the press or it is somehow ventilated, we are kept in the dark.”
On many occasions and on other very important matters, he added, the opposition-nominated commissioners learn of the actions taken, tangentially.
There have been instances where in sub-committees observations are made and when questions pursuant to those observations are asked, he said, “We are told, ‘Oh that was a decision taken at such and such a time.’”
Often times, he said, those decisions do not come to the commission for approval, or the information is not provided to the commissioners.
