GECOM Commissioners

Sep 27, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – I find it difficult to go a route against a Guyanese that has the political pedigree of Mr. Vincent Alexander. He is a citizen whose political history is as long as Guyana’s many rivers arranged in a straight line. I can absorb the risk of that exaggeration. Mr. Alexander took the position that GECOM commissioners were meant to be independent and permanent.

I am taken aback by Mr. Alexander, because he should know that even those who carry the weighty designation of ‘permanent secretary’ are anything but, depending on the whims and caprices of their political masters. In the emerald swards of the British Isles, maybe. But definitely not in Guyana. Why, even the selection and often the operation of the chair of GECOM have been hijacked by the major parties, which Mr. Alexander should be more familiar with than I. It surprises that a man of the caliber of Vincent Alexander is given to humour. It helps, so I recommend as conducive in overcoming ringing ears, those violent, disruptive hiccups that can convulse. But, come, come, Mr. Alexander, GECOM commissioners were meant to be independent? Who threw up their name in the GECOM ring?

Whose interests do the commissioners represent first, then forever? I would rather not be insulted by any position that the Guyanese people feature somewhere in there, and that their position are without equal. What is good for the party, what is good for patrons, that’s where this peculiar claim of independent settles and solidifies. I suppose that an argument could be made that as far as commissioners were intended to be independent goes, there is some unique type of in operation. Independent within the boundaries of orders, independent through set plays, independent via fixed postures.

I take another tack. GECOM commissioners are so independent, that there is the calamity and paradox of the chairperson. Blinding that pivotal presence has been, and blind to reason, too.

The chairperson isn’t a creation of civil society, nor an agent of the people, but of the dictates and expectations of the sponsor, whoever holds the whip hand in tense, demanding situations.

Dictates don’t have the bluntness of sledgehammers. There must be that ballet flitting across the floor first, for the appearance of process, of procedures followed, of being one’s own man or woman. There is subtlety. Then there is comedy that Guyanese endure repeatedly. Some chairs have struggled to appear independent, only to abandon that farce clumsily.

So, what’s this brand of independent that Mr. Alexander would have Guyanese know? If chairs can be made to wrestle so nakedly, labour so mightily, I recommend that Mr. Alexander revisits his political scrapbook and locate another word. In brief, when GECOM and commissioners are uttered in that same sequence, independent is the most unfit and improper word that has ever been dug up, given a polish, and put-on display. The context is wrong. The substance is unconvincing. The reality is grinding and jarring. No way, sir.

Permanent has its place. But the last area that should apply to is GECOM and its commissioners. Because I am thinking of people who are now out of place due to their season having passed.

The PPP has the luxury of retaining its commissioners, having claimed the crown of victory. But what claim the now minor opposition, when it’s a shadow of its former self? Even if the role of commissioners were independent and permanent, I would assert that the times have changed and things have changed, as supported by developments on the ground. Candidly, who is the loser representing? Any position of permanency, however that is derived, comes with a broad taint, and a high odour. It’s the equivalent of a third-place contestant, insisting that the gold medal is due him or her.

Allowance may be made for a close reading of the final voting numbers, which may prompt the principals to agree on a formula for splitting the three seats. It may be a hard sell for the people with the lion’s share of the opposition seats.

Finally, some argument will be heard about environment, custom, and practice. There is a superior way of thinking that trumps those three considerations. The law of recognising what the writing on the wall imprints in the minds of most Guyanese. It is time to go. Do the honourable thing, make the gracious move, and give way to those who took the town by storm, and wrested the mantle of the leading opposition presence in today’s Guyana.

Independent was always going to collide with scorn, objection, even dismissal. Permanent only enjoyed that status because there were no other contenders to challenge that grip on GECOM. It’s no longer the case. The longer this drags out, the greater the disservice to Guyana, with a bad situation growing worse.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) 

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• Commissioners, GECOM, GHK Lall, Vincent Alexander

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