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Don’t try any ‘jiggery-pokerey!’
Corbin tells GECOM in run-up to Local Gov’t polls
Opposition leader Robert Corbin, yesterday warned the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) not to try any “jiggery-pokery” in its preparations for Local Government polls, which the Commission estimates it could pull off by November 30, 2009.
Corbin accused the Commission of trying to bypass the production of a National Register of Registrants (NRR) and moving ahead to the next stage of producing a Preliminary Voters’ List (PVL).
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin points to the GECOM work plan which provides for the production of a National Register of Registrants.
Corbin, who leads the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), said this sort of “jiggery pokerey” would not work. He said that questions regarding the credibility of the Voters’ List, have been at the root of serious controversy during elections in Guyana.
“Bearing in mind that the Preliminary Voters’ List, for the holding of Local Government Elections, must be extracted from the new NRR, GECOM must inform the public when the NRR as agreed by all Parties, including GECOM, would be ready for scrutiny,” he told the media at the party’s Congress Place, Sophia headquarters.
After the 2006 general elections, all major political stakeholders agreed that the continuous controversy over a credible Voters List in Guyana, should be brought to an end by the preparation of a new, acceptable, National Register of Registrants, through a mutually agreed process of House-to-House Registration to be monitored by scrutineers from political parties.
This new national register, NRR, would then be the basis for the preparation of future Voters’ Lists including, the Preliminary List of Electors for the upcoming Local Government Elections.
On June 14, 2007, the government, the Parliamentary political parties and GECOM signed an agreement “on the preparation of a new National Register of Registrants by House-to-House Registration prior to the holding of Local Government and all future Elections.”
This agreement was signed by Gail Teixiera on behalf of the Government of Guyana; Donald Ramotar on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic; Robert Corbin on behalf of the People’s National Congress Reform One Guyana; Khemraj Ramjattan on behalf of the Alliance for Change; Everall Franklyn on behalf of Guyana Action Party- Rise Organise and Rebuild and by a representative of the United Force in the presence of Manzoor Nadir, who represented himself at that meeting as the leader of The United Force.
The signing of this agreement was done in the presence of ambassadors and diplomatic representatives in Guyana. They included representatives from the UK, Canada, the European Union and the USA.
The agreement called for house-to- house registration of all eligible registrants, aged 14 years and older to produce the NRR.
All the parties agreed that a Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) will be extracted from the new NRR for the upcoming Local Government Elections, on the basis of which a Revised Voters List and a Final Voters List will be prepared for that Election.
In the context of the agreement and its signatories, Corbin said neither GECOM nor the government “could be under any illusion that the preparation and publication of a final new National Register of Registrants is the starting point for any Voters List for the upcoming Local Government Elections.”
He said that GECOM’s original work programme for 2009 as shown on their project document, “Work Programme 2009” dated February 2, 2009, indicated that the production and distribution of the, “Final NRR and Alpha Lists (Hard Copies)” would have been carried out over a ten-day period, commencing Wednesday, April 22, last and concluding Friday, May 1, 2009.
This projection was repeated in the GECOM revised Project Work Plan for 2009, dated Tuesday April 7, 2009.
However, Corbin said that at a meeting called by GECOM on June 10, 2009, to brief scrutineers of Political Parties on the preparation for Local Government Elections, the Chief Election Officer, Mr. Gocool Boodoo, could provide no coherent information to those present on the Final new NRR.
“Instead, GECOM seemed to have jumped the gun, apparently answering the cracking whip of the Office of the President, and proceeded to outline their plans for the publication of a
Preliminary List of Electors for the upcoming Local Government Elections and the Claims and Objections period to arrive at a final Voters List for that Election,” Corbin stated.
He said that the Elections Commission cannot now claim to be unaware of what is acceptable, since its own work programme confirms that it recognised the procedural steps necessary for the preparation and publication of a final NRR.
“The major question for political stakeholders at this time, therefore, is why would GECOM strive to undermine their own work programme at the risk of creating further controversy over future Voters Lists?” Corbin questioned.
The PNCR said it raised this issue at the meeting called by GECOM last Wednesday, and was awaiting a proper response from them.
“It should, however, be known in advance that there can be no excuse by either GECOM or the Government of Guyana, over the non preparation and publication of a final new NRR and the PNCR will accept none,” Corbin declared.
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