Latest update September 4th, 2026 10:24 AM
Opposition commissioners will not hold GECOM at ransom – AG
Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, S.C.
…says elections preparations will proceed with or without them
Kaieteur News – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, said commissioners representing the opposition will not be allowed to hold the Guyana Elections (GECOM) at ransom and that the preparations for the much anticipated general and regional elections will go on with or without them.
On the Tuesday episode of his programme ‘Issues in the News,’ Nandlall noted that the tactics being exhibited by the commissioners are nothing new to the government or the electorate.
“So, Charles Corbin, Vincent Alexander, and Desmond Trotman are engaging in their regular form of conduct. They are attending the meetings and then they are walking out to make it inquorate. They are denying the meeting of a quorum. Fortunately, the law is a great institution and the constitution itself provides that when they unreasonably withhold their presence to a meeting or from a meeting, when they absent from the meeting or withdraws from the meeting without just cause, and that just cause is determined, or what constitute just cause is determined by the chairman, the meeting shall stand adjourned to a day not later than two calendar days,” he explained.
Since the walkout by Commissioner Trotman on Tuesday, the meeting has been automatically adjourned. However, the adjournment must not exceed two calendar days. Hence, the next meeting should be called no later than Thursday, at the same time and place as the previous one, with a notice of such adjournment being provided to absent members.
The AG explained that if at the subsequent meeting a quorum is not achieved, then once the members present, including the Chair, are least four, it can be constituted as a quorum. Decisions made at any such meeting are valid and binding.
Referencing the law, he told listeners that “Article 226(5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Guyana, sets out what constitutes a quorum and what happens when a quorum is unreasonably withheld by members of the meeting. So, you cannot hold the elections commission at ransom.”
Nandlall went on to say that, “the framers of our constitution contemplated rogue elements like these three banding together, in a conspiracy to obstruct and derail democracy, (so) they have contemplated and provided for an alternative to the quorum. They have provided an alternative mechanism.”
The mechanism will be activated as they have done many times during the 2020 electoral process and before it.
A scheduled meeting of the commission was abruptly adjourned on Tuesday after Commissioner Desmond Trotman walked out in protest.
The walkout came after commissioners were informed that several critical electoral issues raised in the previous meeting were not included on the agenda.
According to Commissioner Alexander, the meeting came to an abrupt end due to the lack of a quorum after Trotman walked out of the meeting. Trotman’s walkout followed the commission’s announcement that several concerns raised by opposition-nominated commissioners during the previous meeting, held last Thursday, were not included on the agenda.
“The chairperson started the meeting by saying, ‘Let’s look at the minutes.’ I stopped and said, ‘Madam Chair, before you look at the minutes, this agenda of the meeting does not have the items they promised to check,” Alexander recalled.
He continued, “She then responded, saying because the Attorney General had not responded, that’s the reason why the matters are not on the agenda.”
Alexander explained that the issues expected to be addressed included: the stamping of the ballot, dual citizenship for Commonwealth citizens, the incarcerated being allowed to vote, the underlining of overseas Guyanese on the voters’ list, provision for party polling staff to vote, and methodology for flagging deceased persons on the list.
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Here, we have the PNC’s Three (3) Amigos at Gecom, receiving good pay,
and they do absolutely nothing to benefit the country, their party, their
positions- except of course, WALK OUT OF MEETINGS..
Gecom should now change their names to – THE DAY WALKING
AMIGOS..