Justice Singh is not a novice in election matters

Oct 26, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

In the past months Guyanese have becoming more bewildered by the question: Who is in charge at GECOM? We were of the opinion that with all the imbroglio, lies, deceit and illegality encompassing the appointment of the GECOM’s Chairman meant that this person will be the person in charge of GECOM, but instead it would seem that the Chief Elections Officer is the person in charge and the Chairperson just abide by his decisions.
In February this year it was reported that GECOM only needs 148 days to prepare for elections. According to Lowenfield the Commission had to grant the Secretariat the approval to go into election mode. The Commission did not. However, by now we are too keenly aware that the CCJ was used to delay the elections so when it seems that GECOM was all ready to go to the Polls by July, 2019 the decision of the CCJ had to be awaited on. The Commission cannot give the go ahead without the CCJ’s rulings on the No confidence Motion. The CEO made it appear that he has well-oiled GECOM machinery raring to go at that time.
In July this year, just before the CCJ’s decision that the NCM was successfully passed and that Patterson was illegally appointed, Lowenfield went into another delaying mode to support the APNU/AFC’s quest to defer the elections as long as possible. He no longer waited on the CCJ’s rulings but embarked on the GECOM’s backed delayance by foisting the House to House Registration on the Guyanese electorate. This precipitated the call for another Court intervention-more delayance. Lowenfield was in charge and he made full use of his usurpation of the power of the Commission. It must be recalled that the Private Sector Commission upbraided The Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield for commencing and sanctioning ‘an unsanctioned, unverified’ House to House Registration. However, Lowenfield was never sanctioned and neither was he intimidated in any way. Was he fulfilling the PNC’s directives? In fact he made it plain by his action that he was in charge even after the appointment of the new Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh.
Then in complete defiance of the HTH Registration on July 24th it was reported that Lowenfield admitted that the Official List of Voters which expired on April 30th, 2019 can still be used to execute free and fair General and Regional Elections, going back to what he said in February.
Then with regards the abortion of the HTH, Lowenfield then pushed the GECOM field staff to work overtime in an effort to extend the life of the HTH. It was clear that new registrants became the prime target for this extension. In many areas eligible voters who are deemed PPP supporters were bypassed by GECOM staff.
Again at the beginning of October just before the starting of the Claims and Objections period, Lowenfield unilaterally extended the Claims and Objections period to 49 days and then to 42 days from the agreed 35 days. He claimed that he did that ‘in the interest of giving the electorate more time to have their claims and objections sorted out’. Even though the Chair promised to correct the period to 35 days it never materialized prompting Commissioner Shadick to conclude that, ‘We have another Chairman who is going against decisions of the Commission…’
Chairperson Claudette Singh must not give Lowenfield a free rein. She is not a novice in election matters if I could recall.
Now there is the decision to publish the list of registrants captured during the recently concluded HTH registration. The PPP-nominated Commissioners are adamant that no such decision was taken by the full commission. Whose handiwork is this, if it is not Lowenfield again then whose it is? Justice Singh is being called up to take a stand on certain matters.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf

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