Govt. informs GECOM of current court challenge to House-to-House ruling

Sep 14, 2019 News

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Government’s appeal of Chief Justice Roxanne George’s ruling on the challenge to House-to-House Registration was one of the matters discussed at a meeting yesterday, between the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition.

That and several other aspects of the discussion have drawn the ire of Opposition-nominated Commissioners, who are accusing Government of trying to intimidate the Commission into delaying General and Regional Elections.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Minister of Public Health and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairwoman, Volda Lawrence, said that Government has been assured that the information from the House-to-House exercise will be used in the upcoming elections. But it doesn’t end there.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, had told reporters on Wednesday “There could be no question of merging the current register with the new register,” as he explained that he intends to file an application for a stay of the effects of the Chief Justice’s ruling, as Government waits for a resolution of its appeal of the ruling.
Government has raised several concerns over the aspect of the Chief Justice’s ruling, which states that persons should not be removed from the list.
According to Commissioner Charles Corbin, the Attorney General explained this matter to Justice Singh at yesterday’s meeting, at her request, as she had sought clarity on what exactly Government intends to achieve from the challenge. Corbin told Kaieteur News that the meeting was very amicable.
But Commissioners Sase Gunraj, Robeson Benn and Bibi Shadick, are now accusing Government of trying to intimidate GECOM.

A press statement from the three Commissioners reads “It seems as though he [Williams] wants to delay the holding of elections until the hearing of this matter, possibly by the Caribbean Court of Justice.”
In a telephone interview with Kaieteur News last night, Gunraj explained that the meeting happened very abruptly, as it wasn’t scheduled until after the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, and his delegation met with GECOM. He also said that the large delegation of nine ministers likely means it was their intention to intimidate.
A certain utterance by Justice Claudette Singh, to the Leader of the Opposition, during their meeting on Tuesday, had left many to wonder whether she had committed to having General and Regional Elections held before the end of the year, despite several Commissioners stating that the timelines currently proposed by the Secretariat can only place elections as early as March, 2020.
But yesterday, after the meeting of the Commission and the coalition, it was revealed that the Chair did not commit to having elections held before year end.
She only said she’d like to have it held as soon as possible, perhaps before the end of the year.
Gunraj posited that the delegation had made a specific inquiry about that matter.
Justice Singh elucidated on her statement, that she would like to see elections held as soon as possible, Minister Lawrence said, and that the Commission is trying to determine whether any aggregation of statutory and administrative timelines would allow GECOM to hold elections before the year is over. The Commission reportedly assured GECOM that it will not shrink any of the statutes as defined by law. Minister Lawrence made it clear: “They’re still working on their timeline, so they couldn’t give us a definite time.”
Lawrence also said “We did not posit the High Court ruling, but the commissioners did allude to that… We have read the High Court ruling; we know it doesn’t stop there… The learned Judge [Singh] went on to say the methodology that’s used must be the same as in the Registration Act… She said if that’s going to happen, you can’t just do it willy nilly. You have to follow the process as laid out in the law.”
Asked about accusations that Government is trying to delay elections, Minister Lawrence said that the coalition is ready for elections, and that it is the Leader of the Opposition who has, for many months, been trying to dictate to GECOM, an independent body, how it should do its work.
“It’s just another talk by the Opposition Leader. We have shown throughout the process, from, December 21 [2018] to today, that we have complied with the law.” Lawrence added.
At this juncture, the Commission is currently waiting on various parties to be definitive on the timelines and costs required to get their various tasks done as soon as possible. This includes the companies that will be cross matching the fingerprints and supplying the ballot boxes. Corbin told Kaieteur News that the Commission had reached out to certain diplomatic channels to try to crunch the timelines as tightly as possible.
Doing this would affect funding. So, Minister Lawrence said that the coalition’s delegation assured the Commission that it is ready to lend support in any way, including providing additional funds.
For Government to do so, it will have to go to Parliament. In the likelihood that it decides to so do, the Opposition is going to raise concerns about whether Government is overstepping its authority, as it has been declared by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to be acting in a Caretaker capacity.
Asked whether Government would go to Parliament at this time, Lawrence said “I’m quite certain that all of us would agree that if we are to get the results which we would like to have from GECOM, and them carrying out their task, that if they need to have more finances, then of course, we will have to ensure that we put that at their disposal.”
On the specific amounts, Lawrence said “They do not have an initial amount at this time,” but she expects them to speak with Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, in the event that they are in need.
But Corbin told Kaieteur News last night that GECOM doesn’t anticipate any issue arising with respect to funds. The National Assembly had, earlier this year, granted GECOM over $3B for the holding of General and Regional Elections.

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