Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
“I will not sell my integrity for all the oil in Guyana”
– GECOM Chair vows to deliver credible elections
Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice retired Claudette Singh, is reassuring the populace that the Commission has not compromised its position to deliver free and fair elections.
Chairman of GECOM, retired Justice Claudette Singh
Speaking to reporters at yesterday‘s Nomination Day activity which was held at the Umana Yana in Kingston, the Chairman sought to dispel any rumour of attempts to discredit the elections’ process.
Justice Singh noted the negative comments in the press but reassured that the Commission has been working overtime to ensure that the Elections are credible.
“I am confident that the GECOM will be able to deliver free and fair elections the only one way I know and that is the correct way.
“There are so many negative things in the newspapers but I wish to say this that I will not sell my integrity for all the oil in Guyana,” added Justice Singh.
The GECOM chair noted that the process leading up to Nomination Day entailed hard work.
“We worked overtime, even at Christmas. The work ran from day to night. Even yesterday, we had an emergency meeting.”
Addressing concerns about the credibility of the Revised List of Electors which is up for public scrutiny, Justice Singh noted that the Commission cannot take action based on mere claims.
“We need evidence. There was no evidence that those people were not registered or they were saying that there were house lots which were found vacant.
“We needed that evidence and if that was presented then GECOM would have dealt with it.”
At the interim, the GECOM Chair noted that the Commission cannot remove the names or run the risk of disenfranchising voters.
GECOM faced a number of allegations in the process of producing a list of electors for the March 2, 2020 elections.
For one, the Commission was accused of ignoring reports that the current list contained names of nonexistent electors who were included during the truncated house-to-house registration process.
The Commission was belatedly accused of tampering with the National Register of Registrants (NRR).
GECOM has vehemently assured electors on several occasions that the data garnered from the House-to-House Registration exercise would be used in the preparation of the list for General and Regional Elections.
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