Claudette Singh, Lenox Shuman, GECOM and tragic Guyana

Feb 01, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I have always had a good relationship with GECOM chairman, Justice Claudette Singh. Over the years we would encounter each other in public places and we would chat. I recall a very fruitful conversation on Merriman’s Mall six years ago. Last month we encountered each other in DSL supermarket and we had a very meaningful exchange.
I would appeal to Ms. Singh to be very careful how she handles the Lenox Shuman dual citizen controversy. She is quoted in the Stabroek News of Friday, January 31 as telling the newspaper that the commission wrote to Shuman about his nationality status.
If she did that, then she has to answer the question why she didn’t write to Gail Teixeira, Carl Greenidge and Joe Harmon. They have, like Shuman, announced they will be renouncing their foreign citizenship. Why didn’t she write them? Enter Vincent Alexander and Robeson Benn. One represents the PNC, the other the PPP in GECOM. This alone is a 27 year old Guyanese tragedy. Why would the body that runs a country’s national elections have party high priests administering the election machinery? It is not only a farce and a tragedy. It is one of civilization’s current disgraces.
Benn and Alexander told the Stabroek News that the commission became aware of Shuman’s status because of reports in the media. So GECOM now makes decisions based on what the commissioners read in the media rather than independent verification. The obvious asininity in what Benn and Alexander said is that we have now in Guyana, removed institutional obligation to verify information that exists in the air.
I am afraid for my country if Benn and Alexander’s methodology is accepted, then Guyana will not survive as long as March 2 to have elections. The police will charge you because its officers read in the newspaper that you confessed to killing Monica Reece. No verification, but you will be charged. A judge will charge you for contempt because he heard over television that it was reported you said all judges are fools. Is this the route GECOM went when it contacted Shuman?
Well let’s see how Claudette Singh, Alexander and Benn are going to react to what was carried in the media a week and a half ago. Part of the media landscape is Kaieteur Radio. I was on air when I asked PNC candidate, James Bond, if there was documentary evidence submitted to GECOM by Teixeira, Greenidge and Harmon that they are no longer dual citizens.
This is what Bond said on air which was recorded, therefore the audio is available. He said he has accepted the word of his two PNC colleagues that they have given up their foreign nationalities. My reaction was that I want to see the proof of all three. So it is now in the media that there are calls to see evidence that three candidates, one PPP leader and two PNC leaders, are no longer dual citizens.
By way of this column, I am asking Justice Singh to make contact with these three candidates and request the paperwork.
Let me report on more things I said on that radio show with Bond. I offered my belief that the PNC and PPP always find common ground and conspire together when other forces threaten their power base. The PPP and PNC have a historical pattern in this regard. It is the hardened opinion of this columnist that Shuman’s participation on March 2 will deny a victory to both PNC and PPP.
What they have done is find common ground to isolate Shuman. Shuman’s campaign manager, Ms Cole, called me when I was in the National Park at 9.30 am yesterday. While she spoke, I did ask her if Shuman has proof that he has relinquished his citizenship. She said yes, and GECOM will be given the paperwork. She also added in reply to a question of mine, that her party is confident of gaining parliamentary seats.
I report on this so the headaches for the two leviathans can increase. I plan to reveal the results of separate professional polls, one commissioned by the PPP, the other by the PNC. It doesn’t look good for majority rule. The PPP and PNC are in dire straits. Just one seat can create a minority government.
I conclude with the danger of Guyana continuing with the Carter/Price structure for GECOM. Party mandarins, high up in their parties’ command structure, running the election machinery of a country, is a caricature and an act of insanity in any part of the world. There may be more convergence between Benn and Alexander as the prospects of minority government loom large.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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Claudette Singh, Lenox Shuman, GECOM and tragic Guyana

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