Recent developments at GECOM must be keenly observed

Jun 18, 2013 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
It was reported in SN dated 6/12/13 that attorney for the Chief Elections Officer, Gocool Boodoo, has penned a letter to the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Steve Surujbally, to ask that the commission stall its deliberations regarding the renewal of his (Boodoo’s) contract, until his 2012 and 2013 performance appraisals are completed.
According to the news report, Chairman Surujbally “opted to put the matter aside until he consulted his legal team. This new twist of things regarding the embattled Chief Elections Officer has prompted me to ask the following questions;
1. Has performance appraisal been a standard practice for the renewal of the Chief Elections Officer’s contract? During his many years of working with the Guyana Elections Commission, as CEO, and more than five election cycles, how many performance appraisals has Boodoo had?
2. Who is responsible for conducting this performance appraisal?
3. If the performance appraisal is required before the Chief Elections Officer’s contract is renewed, how often or at what time period is the appraisal expected to be completed? Is it, for example, every year, every two years, or after an election year?
4. Was a performance appraisal done for Boodoo after the 2006 elections? If so, who conducted that appraisal, and what were the results?
5. Does GECOM have a guideline as to how and who should conduct these performance appraisals? If so, were these guidelines used prior to now? If not, why not?
This new call for Boodoo’s performance appraisal seems more to be an attempt to stave off the impending non-renewal of his contract, rather than the so-called cry for ‘due-process’. It would be interesting to see whether the Chairman will be the person identified to do Boodoo’s appraisal, a situation likely to add another unfortunate tale to the storyline.
One must not forget that both Surjubally and Boodoo have been at the centre of much controversy after the November 2011 National and Regional Elections, where many citizens called for their removal from office before any other election is called. It was apparent that during that period these men were both supportive of each other and held joint press conferences where they openly talked about the idea of taking some kind of legal action against APNU.
So, should there be a finding that the performance appraisal of the CEO is standard procedure to be conducted by the Chairman of GECOM before the contract of the CEO is renewed, this would be one instance where the serving Chairman of the commission must recuse himself from performing such a task. This should be done to ensure that the reasonable and legitimate concerns by the people, of partiality or favouritism, are adequately addressed.
We must not forget that the post of Chief Elections Officer, is arguably, one of the most critical election offices in a nation which hopes to manage its elections in accordance with democratic principles, as such the person who holds this position must be seen by the majority of the people as someone in whom they have confidence to perform his/ her tasks in a fair manner.
I believe that both men should do the honourable thing and excuse them self from occupying any office in GECOM. There are too many public statements which they made against the opposition, in particular APNU, which might be sufficient to conclude that they might be unable to act fairly in their roles.
In fact, the Guyana Chronicle, dating back to 2011, published a litany of articles in which it relishes the GECOM Chairman’s apparent dismissive attitude and posture towards APNU supporters and leaders. There is the strong likelihood, after all the public rancor, that necessary professionalism and objectivity needed to execute the functions of these offices may elude these two men should they continue to function in their respective offices. The people must be uneasy to see them remain on the job.
Lurlene Nestor

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Recent developments at GECOM must be keenly observed

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