Vacant posts stymie Election Day preparations – Commissioner

Nov 14, 2019 News

There are four key vacant posts at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that the current Commission had endeavoured to fill, since early last month.

Commissioner Vincent Alexander

These are Assistant Chief Elections Officer (ACEO); Logistics Officer, Civic and Voter Education Officer; and Research Officer.
Kaieteur News understands that these posts have been empty since last year, but meetings to discuss their filling were hindered by the shadow of doubt placed on the legitimacy of former GECOM Chair James Patterson’s appointment, and his resignation following a ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) that it was unconstitutional.
GECOM’s administrative committee should have been convened last month, Alexander had told Kaieteur News a week before the date selected for its first meeting. Their job is to fill those posts, but more important matters seem to have held the Commission’s attention.
Now, Alexander has brought up the matter of the vacant posts hampering GECOM’s work, but all Commissioners may not be in one place for maybe a week or two.
“Once again, we were supposed to meet [on Tuesday last]. In the absence of a Commissioner, we couldn’t meet to do the interviews, and that Commissioner [Bibi Shadick] has again indicated that she is unavailable for next week.”
Because of this, Alexander has suggested that the Commission grant authority to the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, to recruit temporary staff to carry out the tasks that those vacant posts would have been taking care of, had they been fixed.
Some Commissioners are opposed to that suggestion, Alexander said.
The Chair, Justice Claudette Singh, reportedly said that she would like to hear from the CEO before she finalises her position on the matter.
If those posts aren’t filled soon, warned Alexander, the work of GECOM will be stymied.
“[That will happen], or the officers who are there will be put under tremendous pressure, as those are key positions.”

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