GECOM approves work plan for LGE

Feb 08, 2023 News

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…as chair walks back on decision to hire IT Manager to perform DCEO duties

Kaieteur News – Following weeks of opposition, Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) retired Justice Claudette Singh on Tuesday rescinded her decision to appoint IT Manager Aneal Giddings as Operations Coordinator. And the commission also approved a work plan for the conduct of Local Government Elections.

Opposition-nominated commissioners made it clear that the approval of the plan was done through a majority vote, stating that they abstained on the grounds that a fresh list and a mechanism to curtail multiple voting is a sine quo non for the holding of any election. Commissioner, Vincent Alexander said too that the opposition also maintained that the demarcation process was hijacked by the PPP and that gerrymandering was perpetrated in keeping with what the minister had illegally set out to do. He said the Government appointed commissioners also opposed entertaining any discussion on the introduction of digitization of the registration and voter identification processes.

The “temporary post of operations coordinator was aimed at filling the void of the of   a substantive Deputy Chief Elections officer (DCEO). Opposition-nominated commissioners had objected to the appointment and the creation of the post, citing sinister motives by the chair and the government commissioners.

Kaieteur News understands that at a statutory meeting of GECOM on Tuesday Singh indicated that after listening to the various submissions on the creation of the Operations Coordinator position and the appointment of Mr. Giddings, she has decided to rescind the post with effect from February 8.  The opposition nominated commissioners had argued for weeks that both the creation and appointment were ultra vires. Justice Singh had defended her decision to create the temporary post at the Commission noting that the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) is overwhelmed and the absence of a DCEO warranted the selection of an internal employee to fill the void.

Justice Singh also made it clear that there is precedence at the Commission where staff is seconded to fill posts. In a statement to the media, the GECOM Chair said that in one case, a staff seconded was hired to serve without the Commission’s approval. In response to concerns highlighted in this newspaper by Opposition Commissioner Vincent Alexander, GECOM indicated that no new position was created, only a title of ‘Operations Coordinator’ since the staff would be working in the Operations Department of the Commission’s Secretariat.

In a timeline of what transpired, GECOM in a previous press statement said that on November 9, 2022, the agency’s Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Persaud wrote a memo to the Chair requesting approval for the secondment of Mr. Giddings, IT Manager to the Operations Department of the Commission’s Secretariat to assist with the day-to-day implementation and evaluation of the statutory and administrative tasks delineated in the Work plan for the conduct of Local Government Elections (LGEs).

In justifying his request, GECOM said the CEO noted that, unlike the conduct of General and Regional Elections, which takes place in a disaggregated manner in ten different Electoral Districts, the LGEs will be conducted in eighty Local Authority Areas (LAAs) comprising ten Municipalities and seventy Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). However, this was not enough to justify Giddings’ appointment. As such, the commission remains without a DCEO.

Meanwhile during Tuesday’s meeting GECOM also approved the work plan for the conduct of Local Government Elections.

In its statement to the press, GECOM said the Secretariat will proceed with the full implementation of the relevant statutory and administrative activities to ensure the successful conduct of the elections in the eighty (80) Local Authority Areas (LAAs) countrywide.

The statement added that going forward the GECOM Secretariat will immediately move to (i) roll out a robust civic and voter education programme, (ii) appoint Electoral Registrars and Assistant Electoral Registrars, and (iii) extract the Preliminary List of Voters (PLV). These activities are directly linked to the preparation of Registers of Voters for each of the 80 Local Authority Areas. Preparation for the conduct of LGE commenced in 2022. The GECOM Secretariat had already completed the training of management and polling day staff for all of the Local Authority Areas, and the receipt of applications for and approval of symbols submitted by political parties, voluntary groups and individuals who intend to contest in the elections.

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• Aneal Giddings, chairperson, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice Claudette Singh, Vincent Alexander

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