70, 000 ID cards still uncollected

Aug 28, 2010 News

– as GECOM gears for 2011 General Elections

With $254M spent in preparing for Local Government Elections that were never held, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is now getting in gear for national and regional elections which are due next year.
In preparing for the Local Government elections (which the Commission was ready for on April 29, but which was never called by the Local Government Minister), a new national register of registrants was prepared after a house-to-house registration process which started in 2008.
Now, the Commission is ready to update that list with all who are now 14 years or older. But even as that is so, over 70, 000 ID cards are yet to be uplifted. These ID cards are of people who registered during the house-to-house registration process.
After the house-to-house registration exercise in 2008, which resulted in the creation of a commonly acceptable National Register of Registrants (NRR), this RR was recently updated as a result of the Claims and Objection exercise which was conducted in preparation for Local Government Elections which did not come off.
Those who registered during that time were issued with a new national ID card, but GECOM Chairman Steve Surujbally yesterday warned that the old ID cards could soon be decommissioned and therefore persons must get their new ID cards.
The continual updating of the NRR must now be done through the recommencement of Continuous Registration.
Those who meet the voting criteria would be included in the Official List of Electors (OLE) for those elections.
GECOM says it is convinced that, to a large extent, the success or failure associated with the conduct of elections is closely interlinked with the completeness and accuracy of the OLE to be produced from the National Register of Registrants.
“This is the fundamental principle based on which we have taken the unanimous decision to embark on the Continuous Registration exercise, with the support of the government and the endorsement of all of the Parliamentary Political Parties,” the Commission said in a statement to the media.
GECOM will commence the conduct of the 2nd cycle of Continuous Registration September 6, 2010 using 27 permanent GECOM Registration Offices located in all of the ten Administrative Regions.
The primary objective of this exercise is to provide registration opportunities to eligible persons who are not registered in the current National Register of Registrants’ Database (NRRDB). This exercise is scheduled for completion on December 31, 2010.
Anyone who will be 14 years or older, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, naturalisation, or is a citizen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, is eligible for registration during this exercise.
During this period, persons who are already registered could apply for a transfer if they have changed their addresses since they were last registered; and apply for a name change or correction if they have changed their names or if there is incorrect information on their National ID Cards.
Potential registrants are required to visit the GECOM Registration Office that is responsible for the registration of persons from his/her area of residence to apply for registration. Such persons must be in possession of the necessary source documents.
These include: Original Birth Certificate or a valid Guyana Passport; Original Marriage Certificate (and original birth certificate) – in the case of a name change by way of marriage; Original Deed Poll and original Birth Certificate – in the case of any change Of name by Deed Poll; Original Naturalisation Certificate issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and original birth certificate/valid passport – in the case of naturalisation.
Evidence (photocopy/duplicate) of an application having been made for naturalisation will not be accepted. Baptismal Certificates, expired passports, photocopies of relevant documents or letters from Priests, Elders, Head Masters, Village Captains/Toshaos and Justices of the Peace nor existing ID Cards are not being accepted as source documents for registration.

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70, 000 ID cards still uncollected

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