Chief Elections Officer of GECOM should be a non-national for an interim period

Aug 15, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – The 2020 general elections manipulations and attempts at rigging when condensed and filtered down could have been stopped in its track if two specific officials of GECOM, namely the Chairperson and Chief Elections Officer (CEO), had acted as officers befitting their office. What actually occurred was largely a case of inaction by the Chairperson and too many nefarious actions by the CEO.
Hypothetically, had the CEO acted as per the guidelines of GECOM, Mingo would not have been calling out bingo and bogus numbers. The complete electoral secretariat reports directly to the CEO, and he has the commensurate authority to direct their conduct as per standard operating procedures. His decision to actively condone the falsification of the statements of polls for Region Four was the major turning point in an otherwise fair and free election up to that point. This only amplifies the importance of the CEO. Furthermore, had the Chairperson acted with her vested authority and suspended both Mingo and Lowenfield the moment they disregarded the Chief Justice and her orders, we would never would have had to endure this rigging nightmare.
The way forward should be to retain the Chairperson given the fact that although she was very dilatory at times and lacks the experience of overseeing an election; she went through a crucible of fire and must have emerged tempered and wiser. With regards to the CEO of GECOM, which is the most crucial position, we should look at the possibility of hiring a competent officer from either the CARICOM or Commonwealth countries for at a minimum of two elections to replace Lowenfield.
This would give everyone the proper breathing space to regain trust and impartiality in the elections process since a non-national would have no partial preference for any political party. Over time we would come to have trust in the system regardless of the individuals manning the electoral system.

Yours Sincerely,
Reggie Bhagwandin

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