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Lawrence, Ally signal rejection of additional recount stations
Executives of the governing coalition, APNU+AFC, met with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and signaled the rejection by the National COVID-19 Task Force of a proposition by the commission to add six workstations for the National Recount.
[from left] Coalition Executives and Ministers, Volda Lawrence and Amna Ally
During an engagement with the media, Lawrence, the Chair of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the largest party in the Coalition, was asked about the Task Force’s report to GECOM on how safely GECOM could facilitate the additional workstations, if it should at all.
In response, Lawrence said that the first consideration that must be had in making such a decision is the safety and security of each and every person at the centre.
She said that GECOM had asked the National COVID-19 Task Force for professional advice on the utilization of space in the centre and the number of persons who should be there at any given time because of the importance of safety and security, in light of the pandemic.
Asked whether the coalition supports the addition of new work stations to speed up the recount, Lawrence said that it is not for any political party to say what it wants at this time.
She said that that report has not been presented as yet, as far as she is aware, but assured that the Task Force will share that with GECOM.
To be included in this report, as had been explained by Commissioner Vincent Alexander, is an assessment of the compliance of the current arrangements with health and safety guidelines.
Notably, the Task Force had initially advised that 14 persons should be present at eight of the workstations, and less at the other two. It had also said in totality that a maximum of 132 persons would be in conformity with COVID-19 guidelines.
However, reports has come from Commissioners that GECOM had allowed up to 18 persons in certain work stations to facilitate all of the political agents who came.
Alexander mentioned recently that he estimated there to be up to 400 persons usually present in the building for the recount, a sharp overstepping of the 132-person limit.
Amna Ally, who was with Lawrence, said to reporters that the coalition delegation that met with GECOM from the party, yesterday indicated to the Commission that GECOM should stick to the order which had been gazetted for the recount. Ally is the General Secretary of the PNCR.
One of the provisions in that order is for the use of 10 workstations.
Nandlall is of the view that the party’s advocacy for GECOM to stick to the order is really its way of signaling that it will not accept the addition.
He said that he expected that the extra stations would have already been up and running by now, but that has unfortunately not materialised.
“It is imperative that those additional stations are set up” so that the Commission can function with greater alacrity, Nandlall told reporters. He pointed out that GECOM will not meet its own deadline if it does not buck up.
Both Commissioners Sase Gunraj and Desmond Trotman, who also addressed reporters yesterday, said that they had expected the Task Force to respond earlier.
Gunraj even said that the Task Force’s team that visited the centre had actually communicated to GECOM that a response would be forthcoming in about 24 hours, which should have been on Friday.
Lawrence did not give a timeline for the production of the report, but submitted that “Guyana is not safe right now, in this pandemic.”
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