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GECOM’s systems must be reviewed – Surujbally
– current set-up an “embarrassment”
By Desilon Daniels
As the results for the 2015 general and regional elections finally wind down, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally has indicated that the body’s systems must be reviewed as they are currently an
GECOM Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally during one of GECOM’s recent press conferences
“embarrassment”.
Surujbally made the statements not once but twice during the course of this week, while being grilled by reporters about the lengthy wait between the close of polls and the release of official results.
During his interactions with the media, Surujbally said that a number of areas in GECOM’s systems need to be looked over, particularly those which dealt with technology, before the body holds its next election. He opined that the current methodology employed “leads to confusion”.
“In this modern age of electronics, in this modern age of computers, we cannot continue to remain with Jurassic concepts,” Surujbally emphasised.
He explained that steps, including collaboration with an overseas company for the acquisition of scan tabulations, had previously been undertaken to modernize GECOM. In fact, he said, a simulation exercise was conducted during the University of Guyana Students’ Society (UGSS) election last year. This exercise, he said, “went off flawlessly” but the implementation of the devices for the general and regional elections did not come off.
“In the end we did not follow that methodology and I’m saying that we cannot continue this way and we have to go high-tech,” he said. He added that Guyanese are wary of technology, something he believes, comes from a deep distrust of the system.
He emphasised that he would not like for the same slothfulness in the revelation of this year’s results to occur at a later election.
“I do not expect this at the next elections – whether it’s local government or general and regional – but then again I did not expect this time around to have this embarrassment,” he said. He went on, “Our methodologies are so archaic because of the fundamental distrust that exists…Up to now in the law, the electronic aspects are not captured the way the manual aspects are, so the Parliament would have to change those.”
He further said that recommendations had been made by several of the observer missions. One of these recommendations was to change the system within the commission. Surujbally opined that the change was indeed one that needed to be looked at “more seriously”. However, he said, “People are comfortable and the people that matter – the people that sit in Parliament, the people that make the laws – they are pretty much comfortable with the system as is in the composition of our commission.”
He went on that he had previously spoken on the issue and though he was not necessarily convinced that a change in that aspect of the system is needed, he nonetheless said that it should be discussed. He further said that certain laws regarding the commission needed to be reviewed.
“This sort of serpentine way of getting results, definitely it has got to stop,” Surujbally maintained.
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