Claudette Singh accused of facilitating abuse of GECOM staffers’ rights

Oct 10, 2020 News

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – The Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Rt’d) Claudette Singh, is accused of facilitating the abuse of the rights of GECOM staffers’ by the

GECOM Chairperson, Justice (R’td) Claudette Singh.

Guyana Police Force (GPF).Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Joseph Harmon, during a press conference yesterday said that the arrest and charges that are being laid against several GECOM officials and staffers by the GPF, in relation to electoral fraud committed during the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections, amount to harassment by the force.
The opposition leader also stated that the fact that the GECOM chair is silent on the arrests that are being made, makes her complicit in the matters.
Meanwhile, yesterday the Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers, made her first court appearance for two counts of misconduct in public office charge.Desmond Trotman, APNU+AFC’s nominated GECOM commissioner, while talking to reporters outside of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts said that, “The Chair [Singh]…

Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon.

she seem to have wash her hands of the affairs and have just facilitated the handing over of information and the ‘persecution’ of members of staff without showing any willingness to take some line of action.”
Trotman also said that the GECOM chair has given instructions for documents to be handed over to the police without ascertaining the use for the documents. He added that after inquiries were made, she admitted, at the level of the commission, that she handed over job descriptions to the police.
However, the GECOM chair did not take the comments made by the commissioner lightly. In response, she issued a statement in which she refuted Trotman claims and made it clear that the commissioners were informed during a statutory meeting about the request for the documents that was made by the GPF.Singh noted that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the GPF had requested the contracts of some members of staff and she reported the request at a Statutory Meeting of the Commission.

APNU+AFC Commissioner, Desmond Trotman.

According to the statement, the GECOM chair then sought clarity from the CID headquarters as to the purpose of the request for such information since those documents are private to GECOM.
In response to the GECOM chair’s request, the police stated that what was required is the job description of all the senior officials who are being investigated.
As a result, only the job descriptions of the GECOM officials who are being investigated were released to the police, since that information is already public.
She added, “I instructed the Human Resources Manager to provide Job Descriptions ONLY. As Chairperson of GECOM and a former Police Legal Advisor, I do not have the authority to interfere into the work of the Guyana Police Force nor any other Statutory Body and will always ensure that the best interests of the members of staff of GECOM are protected.”
In closing the GECOM chair stated that it is unfortunate that Trotman sought to publicly admonish the work of the Commission, even though he was present at the discussions that were held pertaining to the release of documents.

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