More than one month after the application process closed, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is yet to come up with a final list of candidates to interview to fill the posts of Chief Election Officer (CEO) and Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO).
GECOM has received 40 applications to fill both posts and has so far shortlisted 10 persons as possible suitors. However, that list is still to be scrutinised by the full Commission before a final list of candidates is extracted.
Late Tuesday night, GECOM Chair of the Elections, retired Justice Claudette Singh circulated an integrated list of candidates to fill the posts and requested that the Commission meet yesterday to discuss the way forward. Following the meeting, government-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj told the Stabroek News that the meeting was very brief and not much was done.
However, he did say that an agreement was arrived at in relation to the final list.
“We will meet on Tuesday [November 30] and we set aside two days after that to work out all of these modalities in relation [to the interviewing process]. We have agreed to examine the shortlist and further refine if necessary so that only people who have met the criteria will be interviewed,” he explained.
He added that the Commission would also look at the evaluation forms and update them, if necessary, so as to facilitate a smooth interviewing process.
When asked whether the Commission is working with a deadline to fill the vacancies, Gunraj said “we are not necessarily working with a deadline to conclude the hiring process but I am hoping that we can finalise that as well when we meet next week.”
Meanwhile, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander told this publication that yesterday’s meeting reinforced what he and his fellow opposition-nominated commissioners have been saying.
“What transpired today [Friday] is that we finally came to the conclusion that the shortlist we have has to be checked off against the essential criteria and that the Commissioners would be given time to do that. We would come on Tuesday having done that individually, to do it collectively to finalise our shortlist,” he said.
While the government side has been advocating for the integrated list to be the final list of shortlisted applicants, Alexander had been saying that the applications should be judged against the criteria for the posts in an effort to save time by interviewing just eligible persons.
This position led to persons accusing Alexander and his fellow Commissioners of refusing to interview applicants they did not shortlist.
“Now this puts to rest the contention that we have refused to interview anybody. We have been saying that we need to get names checked off against the criteria we put forward and then finalist the list to go forward,” Alexander said during a brief comment yesterday.
The integrated list was compiled following submissions by both government-nominated Commissioners and Opposition-nominated Commissioners.
Justice Singh’s integrated list listed the six names, submitted by both sides of the Commission, for the post of CEO. Those names were drawn from the 20 applications that were received and 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; Dr Kurt Clarke from Texas; former GECOM Public Relations Officer Vishnu Persaud; GECOM Assistant Registration Officer and former Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Commissioner Deodat Persaud and GECOM’s Information Technology Manager Aneal Giddings.
While the government-nominated commissioners side submitted all six of the names, the opposition-nominated members only recommended the three foreigners.
For the post of DCEO Melanie Marshall, Neil Bacchus, Mohamed Arjoon, and Deodat Persaud were named as potential interviewees.
Based on the criteria, the CEO is required to be the holder of a Master’s Degree and have 10 years of experience in electoral matters. The CEO would be 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 among other responsibilities.
Based on those shortlisted for CEO, Jamaican Harrow and Kittian Petty hold significant experience in electoral matters. Harrow has held a number of positions within the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) and is said to have over 25 years of experience working in the field of administration and governance. Harrow spent over 18 of those years with the ECJ.
Meanwhile, Petty is a seasoned electoral observer and former Elections Supervisor in St Kitts. He led the Organization of American States (OAS) observer mission to the 2006 General and Regional Elections in Guyana. Petty also served as Director of the CARIFORUM Directorate.
Texan Dr Kurt Clarke is said to be an attorney but very little has been released about his qualifications.
On the local end, Deodat Persaud has been employed with GECOM for over 16 years and currently serves as an Assistant Registration Officer. Meanwhile, Vishnu Persaud became a GECOM employee in 2001 and served as Public Relations Officer (PRO) for almost 13 years.
Giddings on the other hand does not meet the experience criteria since he only became an employee in the elections arena in July 2018. He serves as the Commission’s Information Technology Manager.
