Lowenfield withdraws court case filed over motion for dismissal

Aug 10, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Chief Elections Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield, yesterday withdrew the application he filed in court to stop the commission’s efforts to dismiss him over concerns that he would not be afforded a fair hearing.

CEO of GECOM, Keith Lowenfield.

The CEO’s withdrawal comes after an amended motion to terminate his contract was placed for consideration before the High Court.
The termination of the contract was proffered as part of the arguments in the case surrounding his removal from office following an amendment made to the motion for his dismissal presented by two of three of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) appointed GECOM Commissioners, Bibi Shadick and Sase Gunraj, earlier in June.
Last week, GECOM’s attorney, Kim Kyte, made her request for leave to file an application in response to the submission for injunctive relief by Lowenfield. The lawyer was prepared to present a case for the amended motion, which includes the termination of the CEO’s contract not just a case in regard to the motion for his dismissal, which requires a fair hearing.
Under those circumstances, it is said that the court had all the alternatives before it as it relates to Lowenfield’s termination from office and, as such, could have been able to conclude his dismissal at a more expeditious rate.
However, with the hearing of the case scheduled for yesterday, Lowenfield withdrew the matter over concerns that the court case would not have permitted for a fair hearing.
Last month, the CEO through his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, filed a motion seeking a declaration that he is entitled to the protection of the rules of natural justice and the right to a fair hearing and determination for the motion of his dismissal brought by Gunraj and seconded by Shadick.
Among other things, Lowenfield made an application for an order restraining the two named Government commissioners from participating as adjudicators in the hearing of the motion for his dismissal. He had requested a declaration that Gunraj and Shadick cannot properly participate, hear and determine their own complaint against him, in the motion for his dismissal.
The CEO was seeking a declaration that GECOM, the named respondent in the matter, having determined that there shall be a hearing of the motion for his dismissal is bound to provide him with a fair hearing.
According to the grounds for his application, Lowenfield explained that since he is entitled to the rules of natural justice, to a fair hearing in keeping with the terms of his employment contract, the two named Government (GECOM) commissioners cannot participate in the deliberations of his dismissal since their participation would “infect the deliberations of the Commission with bias.”
In this regard, the CEO had also applied and was granted an interim injunction barring GECOM from discussing a motion for his dismissal. Last week, Justice, Jo-Ann Barlow, granted the temporary order restraining GECOM from proceeding with the hearing of the notice of motion for dismissal based on the complaint by Commissioners Shadick and Gunraj, which was set for hearing yesterday.
Lowenfield along with other GECOM officials are currently before City Magistrates facing charges for electoral fraud. Those charges stemmed from a series of alleged grave violations by the GECOM workers connected to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections and for their defiance of the instructions by the GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, who instructed that the recount figures be used for the final results of the elections.
In June, GECOM had decided to send Lowenfield and Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers, and Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, on administrative leave pending deliberations over three motions presented to GECOM for their dismissal.