Dear Editor,
With due respect to the GECOM Chair who promised to follow the law and the Constitution, I say that to pander to irrelevant and illogical activities is a threat to the very law and Constitution you pledged to uphold. These illogical activities serve only as delaying tactics and make a mockery of the NCV and the Constitution.
It is recognised by logical thinking persons that the house-to-house registration was not necessary to having a credible electoral list. The Chief Justice recognised this. She indicated that there are other methods including the claims and objections period. The GECOM CEO did say GECOM is always ready.
The GECOM Chair recognised this and she halted the house-to-house registration exercise. After all, continuous registration over time would have allowed most to register. So the claims and objections would be a reliable way of ensuring the addition of those not yet registered.
Now the discussion is what to do with the results of the recent registration process. The court ruled that names cannot be removed from the National Register of Registrants (NRR) except through specific procedures. We have over 300,000 thousand persons who have been registered recently. I am thinking that the first time registrants would be identifiable. So what’s the purpose of adding over 300,000 names of persons to the list and then go through a lengthy process to remove them?
Maybe this can be justified. I am waiting for the GECOM Chair to enlighten the people of Guyana as to why we must add to the list, names of people who are already on the list and then spend an enormous length of time to remove them. Is it not a simple exercise to extract the first-time registrants and simply add them to the list?
We are already nine months after a validly passed NCM. The CCJ indicated that court action paused the NCV so the final ruling would have restarted the clock. So according to the diktat of the Constitution, three months, hence September 18th. The CCJ says the Constitution has to be followed. The GECOM Chair says she would obey the laws and the Constitution but it seems the stalling process to extend the life of the government is the order of the day.
With regards to ID cards, if there was a completed registration process, then a new ID card makes sense as it would eliminate possible duplication, etc. However, if we are to retain the old NRR with the new registrants, why expend a lot of taxpayers’ money to generate new ID cards especially when the GECOM Chair herself ruled that an ID was not necessary to vote. And as today’s voters’ list has the pictures of the voters, it seems to be money and time wasting.
If the intention, however, is to delay timely elections, then it’s effective. It would, however, affect the timely application of the law and the Constitution and undermine the NCV. This would obviously defeat the promise of the Chair to act within the law and Constitution.
The Chair of GECOM has a very reputable history and I am sure that she would ensure that that history is retained unblemished. The Chair needs to act to effectively remove us from the pending constitutional limbo.
The leader of the opposition is being called upon to return to parliament as this is needed so the election date can be legally set after the due date. They, however, are not setting a date. I am positive that if the Chair sets a reasonable timeframe within which the president can set a date, then the leader of the opposition would agree to go to parliament to ratify such a date. And Guyana can move forward. It’s all in your hands.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
