GECOM Chairman addresses ethnic issue

Feb 16, 2016 News

…hints that PPP injected fake Statements of Poll into ballot count

Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, has rubbished the

GECOM Chairman,
Dr. Steve Surujbally

claims by the opposition People’s Progressive Party that the Commission staff comprises 95 percent of one ethnic group.
During an address to members of the media on Sunday, Dr. Surujbally noted, “We have our figures,” Surujbally said. “Those figures would tell you that it is not 95 percent. We know who are being hired. And if they are going to look at the faces and names from our database, then we would have a greater knowledge about (ethnic makeup).”
“(The first thing to find out) is how many people applied,” he said. “And out of those that applied, how many actually passed the examination. These are things that will get the truth. Because it is not good enough to be making statements that can only cause cleavage.”
Dr. Surujbally noted the ramifications. When one says that a large percentage of GECOM staff is of one ethnic group, then that person is saying that the majority ethnic group within GECOM cannot maintain a neutral position and carry out a transparent election. He called it “damning a whole ethnic group.”
“We should be building some sort of togetherness in our thrust towards making this beautiful country (advanced). Other countries have done it, with fewer resources. They may be mono-ethnic. But what is (preventing us) from convincing ourselves that we are one? And we cannot allow anyone to create a cleavage.”
He also called on media houses, when receiving reports such as this, to be responsible and to challenge it. He said this in light of the seriousness of the implications of the reports, should such reports be true. This is in light of this claim appearing in certain media reports, without being corroborated.
The PPP, during a recent press conference, had alleged that there was a major ethnic imbalance in GECOM’s hiring policy. It had stated that 95 percent of those employed were of a specific ethnic group.
The party had also called on the diplomatic community to pay keen attention to what it claimed was occurring. When pressed, however, PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee had refused to go into details.
Fake Statements of Poll
Dr Surujbally also confronted another area of contention for the PPP, fake statements of poll. He said that the Commission still had the fake statements in its possession and would possibly have it shared after the Local Government Elections (LGE).
“But nobody could imagine that someone could stoop so low, so vicious, so transparently evil to bring in false Statements of Poll,” he said. “When I tell my colleagues in the Caribbean, they cannot believe a thing like that can happen.”
Surujbally also noted that the answer to who might have been responsible for the fake Statements of poll lies with those who had the most to gain and those who came out as the losers in the entire process.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) last year raised concerns about the insertion of fake Statements of Poll in the GECOM’s system, following the May 2015 General and Regional Elections that saw the PPP losing power. Explanations from the Chairman have also been dismissed by the party. Last year the party agitated for Surujbally to resign from his position as Chairman.