GECOM Chair concedes Minister Dharamlall, overstepped authority in changing constituency boundaries

Dec 15, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Elections Commission will decide its next move toward the preparation of the Local Government Elections (LGE) Voters List, now that the body has accepted that Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall overstepped his authority when he sought to configure both Local Government Areas and Constituencies within some of those locations.

Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward confirmed the information to Kaieteur News yesterday following another special meeting of the election body. She said that “having reviewed extracts from Order No. 50 of 2022, the Chairperson explained that it is evident that the Minister would have combined and/or sub-divided areas to form constituencies and that is outside of his statutory powers.” The information said that this jurisdiction is given solely to the Elections Commission.

Ward noted that as such, “GECOM will now have to further deliberate on this matter to determine whether it would consider the constituencies purported to be constituted by the Minister or undertake its own process to form the requisite number of constituencies in those Local Authority Areas that have been changed.” The next statutory meeting, she said is slated for 20th December.

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Commissioner Vincent Alexander was insistent that the Minister did not have the power to change constituencies and urged that his action had a negative effect on the preparation of the list as well as the ability of the relevant stakeholders to exercise their right in contesting any possible irregularities involving the document. He told the publication that the meeting yesterday was very short, but it was recognized, that “based on a report emanating from the Logistics Division (of GECOM), the Chair ruled that order 50 of 2022 clearly cannot stand since the Minister has no authority to constitute constituencies.” He said that at the next statutory meeting the Commission will look at proposals on the way forward.

The Chairperson’s decision was made yesterday as Commissioners remained divided on the issue at their statutory meeting Tuesday. Alexander had told the newspaper that that meeting was adjourned without the new plan for Local Government being approved. He said that some Commissioners were still insisting that the Minister can configure constituencies and the Chair seemed to be unclear that the Minister had acted unlawfully under the Order of 2022.

Commissioner for the Governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) Sase Gunraj had also spoken to Kaieteur News at the time and for him, the matter had been decided on. He said Tuesday that the Opposition raised some issues and the Chairman had adjourned the meeting to deal with those issues. But Gunraj and fellow Commissioners believed that the Minister acted correctly in law.

GECOM in a Press Release last week said its Chairperson, Justice (retired) Claudette Singh had refuted Alexander’s claims stating that the Minister had no authority to constitute the Constituency Boundaries and Local Government Areas. The body had deemed the information as ‘misleading’.

Alexander had explained however that Local Government Areas, are those encompassing Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) or municipalities and the constituencies which are part of the Local Government Areas. He said the local areas are first established by the Minister and GECOM has the authority over the constituencies. This is interrelated to the Voters List, Alexander had stated.

The problem, however, was that the Voters List was not extracted on the basis of Local Government Areas and Constituencies and therefore the electorate were unable to make objections on the principle of residency. Alexander submitted that Local Government Election provides for residency, so one must be resident in the constituency of the Local Authority in which they are either going to vote or going to contest. It means therefore, that during the claims and objections period, an Elector must be able to go to the list of the constituency and see if there is anyone on that list who does not reside in that list in keeping with the provisions of the law about residency and to object that person on the list.

That was not done hence Alexander said, GECOM must redo the matter of the preparation of the list because the body has to use the Constituencies as the basis for the specific list to be drawn up. He said the Minister has configured constituency boundaries in Toevlugt/ Patentia where he added Vriesland/Patosi and in Yarowkabra/ Hararuni and Lamaha Yarowkabra and attempted to identify the Town of Mabaruma as a constituency.

Alexander noted that GECOM’s previous process of establishing its Constituencies involved Registration Officers and Political Scrutineers going on the ground and later making recommendations to GECOM. The Commission would in turn determine what the final boundaries would be. The situation has already caused the cancellation of Nomination Day and is likely to push back the March 13, 2023 date for local polls.