Opposition Commissioners support immediate filling of DCEO position at GECOM

Jan 23, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Opposition Commissioners are in support of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) immediately filling the vacant post of Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO) with a suitably qualified candidate, rather than having its Information Technology Manager operate in the temporary position of Operations Coordinator to fill the void of the office.

This was communicated to this newspaper by Commissioner Vincent Alexander on Sunday after he rejected a public statement by the Commission’s chairperson Justice retired Claudette Singh, where she confirmed the secondment of the IT manager to act in the temporary position. Alexander has said that the Chairperson acted beyond her powers when she seconded the appointment in the temporary position, a decision he said lies with the Commission.

Alexander told Kaieteur News that the matter is “very high” on the agenda for Tuesday’s statutory meeting as it can impact the current preparations for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE). Alexander said the opposition’s position is that the temporary Operations Coordinator post be “rescinded and the DCEO appointed post haste”. Alexander had said that for some six months applications for the DCEO post had been with the Commission, but was not given serious attention since, the chairperson had expressed that preparations for LGE had taken precedence. He told the newspaper that filling the DCEO office will not cause further delay to the holding of LGE.  The appointment of the DCEO would however assist in GECOM’s preparation since it was pressure on the Chief Election Officer that forced the secondment of the IT manager to fill the DCEO void, GECOM had stated.

Alexander reminded however that the chairperson last committed to having a vote on the issue, but later reported to the public that she had seconded the operations coordinator position and that the IT manager would be in the post until a DCEO is hired.

The Commission in its letter said that in early November last year, CEO Vishnu Persaud had expressed in a memo that he was under pressure with LGE preparations and requested that the IT Manager Mr. Aneal Giddings be seconded to function in the operations department of the commission. With the vacant DCEO post and the work to be done, the letter said the chair gave her approval for the IT manager to hold the temporary position to cover duties usually fulfilled by the DCEO office.

Highlighting the Constitution, Alexander pointed out that the law provides for senior positions temporary or not, to be decided by the Commission. He had told the newspaper that despite the temporary appointment being made since November last, it was until the opposition commissioners became aware of the post in January that they were informed of the happenings. Alexander continued that the challenge with the temporary post is that applications exist for the DCEO post. The IT manager also applied for the DCEO post but is not suitably qualified with the experience required. He said the Assistant Chief Election Officer (ACEO) should have been next in line to cover the DCEO duties if the intent was to assist the CEO with the work.

Given his objections, Alexander said the chairperson informed that government commissioner Clement Rohee had suggested a vote on the matter and that they should wait for his presence to do so. In the minutes of the January 17 GECOM meeting seen by Kaieteur News, the Chair deferred a vote on the matter until Commissioner Rohee was present. Alexander had previously told the newspaper that opposition commissioners did not decide on their recourse since it was stated that the vote would be retroactive.

To now state that the IT manager was seconded to perform DCEO duties until the post is filled “…is tantamount to the confirmation of the wrongdoing and further emasculation of the Commission,” Alexander said in his response to the GECOM explanation.

Based on the minutes of the January 17 meeting, government backed commissioners are in support of the IT manager holding the temporary post until the DECO post is filled. Commissioner Manoj Narayan said that he sees nothing wrong with the IT manager being seconded to assist with the tasks of a position until that position is filled. “He said that this is not unprecedented, as Melanie Marshall was previously appointed to act as Voter Registration Manager by the previous Chair without the Commissions’ involvement, and there was no objection then.” On that matter Alexander responded that the Commission has all agreed that it should not have happened and it should not be repeated.

Commissioner Narayan suggested however, that the IT manager should be allowed to function in the operations department with a title or not.

 

 

 

 

 

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• Aneal Giddings, Clement Rohee, GECOM, Vincent Alexander

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