Consultations on reforms to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) will continue as changes are still being drafted to the National Registration Act, according to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira.
More than two months after it released the proposed amendments to RoPA, the government is still awaiting recommendations from the major political parties as well as the Guyana Elections Com-mission (GECOM). During a telephone interview yesterday, Teixeira told Stabroek News that her ministry only received submissions from A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and a number of local non-governmental organisations.
“Officially or in writing, I have not received anything from the political parties or GECOM except for ANUG and theirs was published in the press at the same time that I received them. Also, the Electoral Reform Group (ERG) we received from as well. But the process is still ongoing,” she said.
The government, through Teixeira’s ministry, released the draft amendment on November 5, 2021, and set a six-week period for review, comment and to propose additional amendments. That process ended mid-December with no announcement of an extension.
Additionally, the government did promise to release draft amendments to the National Registration Act.
“When the consultation process is concluded in six weeks, there will be a further review process by the Government to finalise a compendium of bills and regulations which will be tabled in the National Assembly…The public and national stakeholders are encouraged to peruse these amendments and submit their views to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance on its Facebook page, via email at ministergt.mpag@ gmail.com or by mail to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, 105 New Garden St, Queenstown within six weeks,” the Ministry had said in its statement.
Teixeira told this newspaper yesterday that the process for submission of comments and additional amendments is still ongoing as the government is in the process of drafting changes to the National Registration Act.
“RoPA consultation is not completed as yet. It is still ongoing and as I said earlier that the process will keep running because we have another piece of legislation to amend and that is the Registration Act. That is being drafted and the process cannot go forward until that is completed,” she explained.
When asked about a deadline for drafting the amendments to the Registration Act, the minister said that the completion of that process lies solely with the drafters. She also related that the government also invited the diaspora to submit comments and propose additional amendments to RoPA but could not say how they intend to treat the submissions that they have received.
The government is yet to hold any public education session on the proposed amendments which speaks to a number of new additions to RoPA. Also, the amendments were drafted without input from GECOM.
Leader of the PNCR Aubrey Norton yesterday told Stabroek News that the party is committed to discussing all issues and then taking positions on them. In an earlier statement, the Party said it supports some of the recommendations submitted by the ERG.
“The PNCR welcomes and supports the ERG’s position that ‘There is almost unanimous agreement that GECOM is in need of fundamental restructuring and reform’ and that ‘Electoral reforms need to benefit from a national consensus if they are to have the desired effect.’ In this regard, therefore, the PNCR notes the ERG position that ‘the single most worrying omission from the current process is the absence of dedicated spaces for stakeholders to discuss and deliberate together, as a means of achieving an increased national consensus on the proposed reforms.’ In addition, the ERG reminded Guyanese that ‘Several observers to the 2020 General Elections noted weaknesses in voter registration which was a contributory factor in the conflicts around the elections’,” the PNCR had said in its statement.
Yesterday, Norton explained that the party welcomes the proposal for dialogue from the ERG.
“We welcome their involvement and some of their positions and that is different from endorsing. There are a number of persons, institutions that have to discuss (the PNCR submitting recommendations on RoPA amendments) and those are ongoing. In the final analysis, everything comes to the central executive of the party, we sit down and discuss it and issue a clear statement,” he said.
Efforts to contact the Alliance For Change for comment was futile.
As it relates to the GECOM, the Commission is yet to decide how it will treat with addressing the proposed amendments.
The draft amendments are a result of the attempts to rig the March 2 2020 general and regional elections, which saw a five-month delay between balloting and the declaration of the final results.
As a consequence of the events of the March 2020 elections, several former GECOM officials, including Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, and Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, and political party officials were charged with election-related offences.
One of the major changes the government proposes is the division of Region Four, the country’s largest electoral district, into four sub-districts – East Bank Demerara, East Coast Demerara, North Georgetown and South Georgetown – effectively adding a new section to Section 6 of RoPA, which deals with polling districts and divisions.
Among the standout amendments are the introduction of hefty fines and lengthy jail time for several election-related offences. The fines are in the millions while jail time ranges from three years to life.
