Two months after President Irfaan Ali announced that embattled Eccles Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) councillor, Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed resigned because of imposed United States sanctions, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said that it was still awaiting notification of the vacant post.
As such, no plans could be put in place nor a date set for a by-election to elect a candidate to fill the position.
“Unless GECOM is informed that there is a vacant post and it needs to be filled, it can’t act,” Chief Elections Officer Vishnu Persaud told the Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
Asked if GECOM had received any official word from the NDC, he replied, “Not as far as I am aware.”
In June, this newspaper had reported that a by-election had to be held following Mohamed’s resignation from the NDC and that GECOM had to be informed to initiate plans for that by-election.
“The clerk of the NDC is to notify GECOM of the vacancy following that resignation, but as far as I am aware, this has not yet been done. Until GECOM gets that, it cannot start the process for a by-election,” GECOM Commissioner Vincent Alexander had explained.
“Now that the seat is vacant, GECOM has to extract a list of the constituency (and) go through all the processes with its list. The people in the area must then get the opportunity to vote at that elections… It is everything like an election but restricted to a constituency,” he added.
It is unclear why the NDC clerk has not yet informed the elections body of Mohamed’s resignation although President Irfaan Ali had announced it since June.
“Mr. Mohamed who has been a PPP/C councillor, I have seen a resignation from the post at the NDC,” Ali had told a press conference hosted at State House, Georgetown, in response to a question from Stabroek News.
Mohamed has declined to speak with this newspaper since the US instituted the sanctions earlier in June.
The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) – its financial intelligence and enforcement agency, earlier this year sanctioned both Nazar and his son Azruddin Mohamed. Allegations against the Mohameds include defrauding the government here of some US$50 million in taxes from smuggled gold, as well as bribing public officials.
Mohamed had been selected as the Eccles/Ramsburg PPP/C representative last year and had won overwhelmingly. He had told this newspaper that he was running not to get into mainstream politics, but that he wanted to contribute positively to the development of his community. He noted then that he had already been receiving support from residents in the community.
He explained that he decided to go with the PPP/C since his chance of getting on the council was higher, as according to his calculations, that party normally won 90 per cent of the seats on the council.
Mohamed noted too that he had been in the community for 40 years and has been contributing to its development. He believed that if he made it to the council he could advance his contributions.
“I don’t want to go into the main political realm. Even at this stage, if the chairmanship is offered to me, I wouldn’t accept it. I just want to play more of an advisory role,” Mohamed had stated as he pointed out that he was already aged and believed his energies could be used to significantly develop the community.
After local government elections in 1994, there were by-elections to elect the chairperson and vice-chairperson of three NDCs due to ties but there isn’t any record of a by-election due to the resignation of a NDC constituency councillor.
According to Stabroek News reports, following the August 8, 1994 local government elections, there were ties in three NDCs namely Soesdyke/Huist Coverden, Gibraltar/Fyrish, and Mabaruma/Kumaka/Hosororo. In all three of these areas, equal numbers of seats on the 18-member councils were secured by the PPP/C and community groups which contested the polls. As a result, fresh elections were held for the chairperson and deputy-chairpersons of the three NDCs.
Stabroek News had reported at the time that at the first meeting of the newly elected councils of Soesdyke/Huist Coverden and Gibraltar/Fyrish on September 23, 1994, there was a deadlocked first vote and the clerk advised that a run-off would have to be held. These polls were held on October 17, 1994 and the PPP/C’s candidate for chairman of Gibraltar/Fyrish Kenneth Joseph, won with 747 votes; his colleague won the post of deputy chairman with 755 votes. At Soesdyke/Coverden, the Soesdyke/Coverden Community Development Group candidate for Chairman Leon Barker won the post with 530 votes; while his compatriot Joan Haynes rattled up 527 votes to take the deputy chairperson post. The election for Mabaruma/Kumaka/Hosororo was held on October 28, 1994.
In 1994, the run-offs were done in a matter of weeks, following the holding of the first meeting of the council.
As it relates to the NDCs, Section 28 (6) of the Local Government Act, Chapter 28:02 says if there is a tied vote “the overseer shall immediately fix a day within the last ten days of the year for the election, by the registered voters, of a chairman from the councillors receiving the greatest number of equal votes, and the election shall be held and conducted and a return or election made in all respects in the same manner as provided for the election” of councillors.
