Alexander knocks ‘corrupt process’ to appoint new GECOM ACEO

Sep 22, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) at its Statutory meeting held on Tuesday appointed Mrs. Beverley Critchlow as Assistant Chief Election Officer (ACEO) – a decision dubbed as contrived by Opposition nominated Commissioner, Vincent Alexander.

In a Press Statement GECOM said Critchlow’s appointment emanated from a transparent process that involved all of the members of the Commission- one in which all Commissioners were availed of the opportunity to interview all of the shortlisted candidates and, thereafter, indicate their respective choice to fill the position.

“In this regard, having heard the submissions of all of the six Commissioners relative to the candidate of their respective choice for the position of ACEO, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, Chairperson of the Commission concluded that Mrs. Critchlow’s qualification and experience, as well as her institutional knowledge, placed her at an advantage above the other candidates,” GECOM said.

The newly appointed ACEO was employed with GECOM for 20 years and acted in the position as ACEO on multiple occasions, the most recent being 2017-2019. The experience she garnered in the field of registration and electoral processes, having worked in different areas including but not limited to the registration of eligible non-resident persons, non-resident balloting, overseeing the operations of 29 Registration Offices and Sub Offices, preparation of Official Lists of Electors (OLE), extracting names of members of the disciplined forces from the OLE, make her eminently qualified for the post. The Commission extends best wishes to Mrs. Critchlow on her appointment and for a successful tenure.

Meanwhile, Alexander in criticising the appointment said he has distanced himself from it for several reasons. Among the reasons he said are, “the Commission advertised and received applications and the Commissioners shortlisted the applicants based on the stipulated qualifications. Further, Commissioners were then advised of the need to re-advertise on the grounds that the applicants did not meet the requirements.”

Additionally, Alexander said at the insistence of some Commissioners, it was decided to include in the re-advertisement that previous applicants needed not reapply. “Of the new applicants only one person was shortlisted. All of the persons finally shortlisted were from the original list of applicants, although they were previously deemed ineligible. The one other applicant who was shortlisted turned out to be the preferred applicant for the job by a majority vote of the PPP/C nominated Commissioners and the Chair,” Alexander related. He said the re-advertisement was baseless and unnecessary, since five original applicants were eminently qualified for the job.

“The inclusion of new applicants corrupted the process. The emergence of that new applicant as the preferred applicant was contrived, hence I am distancing myself from the process and it’s outcome,” the long standing GECOM Commissioner said.