Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Alexander argues ERC report conclusive
The final report on the investigation of employment practices at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the appointment of Roxanne Myers as Deputy Chief Election Officer, may have listed three key persons as “non-appearances”, but it was still unequivocal i
Commissioner Vincent Alexander
n its conclusion that there is no evidence of ethnic bias.
This is according to coalition-appointed Guyana Elections Commissioner, Vincent Alexander.
Commissioner Robeson Benn said, last week, that the issues that prompted the investigation can’t stand as resolved
“These are very important and critical issues in respect of the work of the Commission and in respect of how we go forward in our country.”
He had raised a concern that the investigation could have been investigated because of the non-appearances of three persons, namely Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers; Human Resources Manager, Marcia Crawford; and GECOM Chairman, Justice James Patterson who, according to the report, failed to produce documents concerning the alleged “shiftiness” of Vishnu Persaud, the person who Myers was chosen over for Deputy Chief Elections Officer.
Commissioner Gunraj had also raised the issue of “non-appearance” by the three individuals, last week. Asked whether action would be taken against the Human Resources Officer for not handing over information, Gunraj said it was proposed that the matter be dealt with by the Administrative and Finance Sub-committee, a body which deals with Human Resource matters.
Alexander said, “Unfortunately, much of the talk [this week] was centered on whether it should go to the sub-committee.” And he thought that was a waste of time.
There are some on the commission, he said, who felt that there was no need for it to be directed there. Alexander argued, “Here is the commission at large. Why do we need to refer to a sub-committee when the same set of people who will be at the sub-committee are at the plenary? The plenary is superior to the sub-committee. So, why not discuss it at the plenary which, in any instance, has to be the final place where it is discussed?”
Gunraj had indicated that he holds firm in the view that penalties should be attracted for failure to comply with the investigation’s undertakings.
However, Alexander said yesterday that there was no talk about instituting disciplinary action against anyone.
“There was talk about inquiring to what had occurred, which may or may not lead to such action. But one could not arrive at such action unless one knew somebody was necessarily guilty of something,” Alexander said.
“The PPP commissioners made a request that the ERC investigate GECOM’s employment practices from an ethnic perspective, in relation to Vishnu Persaud. The report unequivocally concluded that there is no evidence of racial or ethnic bias in relation to Vishnu Persaud’s non-employment. There are other issues that they may have raised but those are peripheral issues. The fundamental issue – the ERC was conclusive and unequivocal about it.”
But, even though the ERC report did arrive at a conclusion, it did not report that its findings were conclusive. The report notes that the conclusion was met based on the information presented. It stated that the “unavailability of key personnel did not allow for extensive deliberations to arrive at a more informed conclusion”.
Yet, Alexander said that “these people weren’t going to provide evidence. They were going to provide some documents to show what the human resource manual [is] like and things like that.”
He said that he doesn’t believe that information would have impacted the report.
Commissioner Charles Corbin also held the view that the information the three non-participants could have provided were not completely necessary for the investigation.
He said, “In terms of the information they said they requested and did not receive, that could not be seen – based on what those things were – as having any impact negatively on their conclusion.”
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