AFC to prove biometrics can be implemented in three months during talks with diplomatic community – Hughes

Feb 09, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News-The Alliance For Change (AFC) will be in talks with members of the diplomatic community with the aim of proving that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) can implement biometrics within three months.

Leader of the party, Nigel Hughes told reporters on Friday assured that his party will make every effort to engage international partners with the aim of showing GECOM that biometrics can be implemented ahead of the 2025 General and Regional Elections.

Kaieteur News asked Hughes at his party’s weekly press conference what the party’s next move is, given the last statement by GECOM’s Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh that the introduction of biometric fingerprint capture must be shelved until after the elections.

In response, Hughes said, “it’s not over until the fat lady sings”. He said that his party does not accept the position taken by the GECOM Chair noting that, “we believe, and we are undertaking efforts to speak to all the friends of Guyana internationally. We are going to continue to provide evidence that biometrics can be all fingers, fingerprints can be harvested in less than three months, and that process is possible.”

The prominent attorney said the AFC is deeply concerned about Guyana’s stability and believes that any independent means of verifying the integrity of the 2025 elections should be pursued.

He said the AFC “will continue our efforts to make sure that biometrics as an independent verification of the results announced by GECOM are pursued. We are certainly…I’ve just said, we are engaging the international community.”

Further, Hughes also disclosed that his party intends to meet with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to discuss matters of national importance. Last month, the party met with GECOM and Hughes told reporters that the Commission is incapable of holding the 2025 General and Regional Elections.

He described the meeting between members of the AFC and GECOM officials as nothing but “disastrous.” At a subsequent press briefing, the AFC Leader sought to update media personnel on matters discussed during the three hours long meeting with the elections commission.

The meeting provided the party with insight on GECOM’s preparedness to manage the upcoming elections as well as the issues related to the commission’s internal management.

Hughes stated that during the discussions, Justice Singh among other things admitted that it conducted no review of the 2020 elections.

“GECOM admitted it had not conducted any review of its operations. It had not conducted any review of the way in which they internally managed the 2020 elections. We enquired of them if any of the recommendations made by the [International] observers were actually implemented and they said none of those as far as they are aware,” Hughes revealed.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on Friday criticized the decision by Justice Singh on shelving the introduction of digital finger prints calling it “unacceptable and inadequate”.

Norton told reporters at his weekly press conference that the Opposition has taken note of the reports that the Chair has proposed to hire a technical expert to advise the Commission on how to go about the introduction of digital fingerprint capture for registration but this must be done after the elections.

Norton questioned how the GECOM Chair, “arrived at the conclusion that it [digital fingerprinting] cannot be done for the 2025 General and Regional Elections when she lacks the technical knowledge?”

“The Opposition rejects this latest proposal as inadequate and unacceptable. The GECOM Chair is acting as a bias arbiter, when she should be seeking consensus, and is causing Guyanese to raise questions about her competence, integrity and courage,” the Opposition Leader said.

He reminded of his party’s January 24, 2025 press conference where it was stated that Justice Singh lacked experience in biometrics technology and project management. The party had called on the Commission “to seek proposals from expert firms on using fingerprint biometrics in Guyana for registration and voting.”

“This is the only acceptable basis that GECOM and stakeholders can have a shared understanding of the timeframe and other issues involved and to make knowledgeable decisions,” the opposition party said.

Norton said that the Chair’s decision to dance around the party’s position, by proposing the use of biometrics be explored until after the next election, will not work as she lacks “the technical know-how to make such a critical decision.”

Further, he said that the opposition remains resolute that the integrity and credibility of the next elections cannot be held hostage to the bias, and arbitrary decision of the GECOM Chair because she lacks the requisite technical knowledge to do so.

The GECOM Chair as part of her decision said that “Section 9(1A) of the National Registration Act as amended by Act 14 of 2005 empowers the Commission to determine from time-to-time procedures for the acquisition and electronic processing of data.”

According to Singh, conceiving a project for capture of fingerprint digitally should not be done at the same time as preparations for the upcoming elections, because there will be challenges in logistics, technical considerations, political and social acceptance issues, and also the costs.

(AFC to prove biometrics can be implemented in three months during talks with diplomatic community – Hughes)

(AFC to prove biometrics, AFC to prove biometrics)

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• AFC, biometrics, Elections, GECOM, Nigel Hughes

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