By Lakhram Bhagirat
Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh and the Government- nominated Commissioners yesterday voted down a proposal to have an independent or mixed panel oversee the shortlisting and interviewing of candidates to fill the posts of Chief Election Officer (CEO) and Deputy CEO.
The decision was taken at the Commission’s statutory meeting and later related by Opposition-nominated Com-missioner Vincent Alexander during an appearance on the internet talk show – Politics 101 with Dr David Hinds.
At a previous meeting of GECOM, following the receipt of 40 applications for the posts of CEO and DCEO, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Desmond Trotman tabled a proposal to have an independent panel appointed to conduct the interviews and then submit a report to the Commission. Traditionally, the Commis-sioners would be the ones interviewing the applicants and scoring them using a standard score sheet and then presenting a report to the Commission for appointment. However, with the debacle at the March 2020 elections and that each Commission-er is perceived as having an inherent bias as they are appointed by political parties, Trotman had proposed the motion.
“On previous occasions, the shortlisting was more or less done by the Secretariat. They would bring the entire list to us and if we felt that they have incorrectly omitted or incorrectly included someone then we would make a decision on that but they did the background work of shortlisting based on established criteria…we then convene what is called then the Administrative Committee (and that) committee did the interviews, using an instrument – the scoresheet – and we will then make a report to the Commission. The Commission will then deliberate on that report and make the final decision. In most instances, the report that was submitted was accepted by the Commission,” Alexander explained.
He posited that an independent panel would have ensured that the persons recommended for the posts were scored objectively and on their merits. He added that in the past there have been candidates, scored by the partisan Commissioners, receiving 100% against other persons that were equally or more qualified.
“I made the proposition (after the rejection of the independent panel) and said alright if you want to involve Commissioners, you can involve them but you can add to the Commissioners, other persons so that there is a mix of persons there and that too has so far been rejected.
“For me, this is a matter that needs to be further interrogated…Though she took a position that the Commissioners should do the interviews, Chairperson asked what has happened in the past. She does not know what happened in the past and I attempted to pursue with her what happened in the past where there is evidence of Commissioners scoring people as high as 100% to show her good reason why she should give a second view on this matter,” Alexander explained.
However, no decision on a second view was given at the meeting.
Government-appointed Commissioner Sase Gunraj told Stabroek News that they have put together a framework to advance the process and part of that framework deals with the shortlisting of candidates. When pressed for details of the framework, Gunraj said that he was not at liberty to divulge such until concrete decisions are made.
However, Alexander and the other opposition-appointed Commissioners are adamant that in the best interest of GECOM and being seen as non-partisan, the independent panel should be appointed.
Thus far, 20 persons have applied for the position of CEO. The list consists a number of controversial persons including former CEO Gocool Boodoo who was stopped from proclaiming an extra parliamentary seat for the PPP/C in 2011 and former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency Omar Shariff who was fired in 2016 after being accused of accumulating a substantial amount of wealth which was inconsistent with the salary of a public servant. The list also includes Director General of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and Regional Manager at the Electoral Commission of Jamaica Leslie Oliver Harrow; St Kitts Election Official Eugene Godfrey Petty; Vishnu Persaud – former GECOM Public Relations Officer; Aneal Giddings – GECOM’s Information Technology Manager; attorney at law Saphier Husain; GECOM Assistant Registration Officer and former Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Commissioner Deodat Persaud; Dr Kurt Clarke from Texas; Christopher Chan; Colin Thompson; Nyall Jodhan of The Citizen’s Initiative (TCI) – a party that contested the March 2020 elections; Dr Stanley Paul; Dr Hubert Maloney; Abushameer Khan; Simone Beckles; Jainarine Singh; Ronald Singh; Amar Panday and Dr Breysha Saskia Solomon.
Based on the advertisement, the CEO is required to play the key leadership role of GECOM’s Secretariat and is tasked with the responsibility for implementing all aspects of its operations, and ensuring that results achieved are consistent with the laws of Guyana and the policies determined by the Commission.
The successful candidate is responsible for advising the Commission on policy matters and their implementation; the interpretation of relevant legislation, and reports on their applications among a plethora of other responsibilities required for the day-to-day functioning of the Secretariat.
Speaking to the required criteria for CEO, Alexander told Dr Hinds that Commissioners have a role in determining such criteria and there was a split between six years of electoral experience and 10 years. Ultimately, the Chair voted for the 10-year requirement.
That, he said, presents the picture that GECOM is seeking to hire from within the system.
“It seems to suggest preference for people already in the system and the fact of the matter is, if one looks back at GECOM, until now, all those who became CEOs came from the system, as far as I can remember,” Alexander, who has been a GECOM Commissioner for over 14 years, said.
GECOM is slated to have its next statutory meeting on Tuesday.
