GECOM and information blackout

Oct 04, 2025 Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – Since before the just-concluded elections, the media had been complaining about the virtual blackout of information from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Reporters were forced to pick through partisan scraps offered by commissioners aligned to the PPP/C and the PNCR. That became the norm. It is a damning reflection of an institution that is supposed to guarantee the integrity of elections, but instead treats the press and by extension the public as if we are intruders.

This blackout was not unnoticed. International observers who came to monitor the polls flagged the lack of information. In their preliminary findings, some urged GECOM to hold regular briefings and make itself available to the press. To the Commission’s credit, there were a few token interactions one to outline its operations, another planned for Election Day that was abruptly cancelled, and yet another called off at the last minute. These half-hearted gestures only underscored the problem: the media, and therefore the people, are treated as nuisances rather than stakeholders in the democratic process.

It has now been more than a month since Guyanese went to the polls. A President and his Cabinet are sworn in. MPs are identified. Yet GECOM has still not convened a single substantive press conference to answer questions about the conduct of elections, the concerns flagged by observers, or the queries of contesting parties. That silence is deafening. It betrays contempt for transparency, accountability, and ultimately the electorate.

The Chairperson, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh, has all but disappeared from public scrutiny. Save for a fleeting appearance on Nomination Day, she has refused to subject herself to the media. A body as critical as GECOM, cannot function as a law unto itself. Its actions, decisions, and mistakes have profound implications for democracy. And yet, citizens remain shut out, denied answers to even the simplest queries.

What GECOM has perfected is a mirror of the PPP/C government’s own style of governance: a suffocating control over information, heavy-handed gatekeeping, and a preference for propaganda over engagement. The similarities are striking. At the level of the Office of the President, journalists are corralled. Questions are limited. The free press is replaced by choreographed sessions where pliant individuals masquerading as media operatives lob softball questions in controlled environments. Ministers, who refuse to answer legitimate queries from independent reporters, instead make themselves comfortable on government-friendly online podcasts, many of them conveniently sprouting up and, one suspects, generously supported by taxpayers’ money.

This is the new information ecosystem: real journalists sidelined, state officials insulated, and the Guyanese people spoon-fed propaganda. It is worth recalling that President Ali campaigned on promises of accountability and transparency. These have since proven to be hollow words. His government has captured virtually every state institution, including those that are meant to remain independent. The Commission of Information is a telling case. Guyanese were promised a new and more responsive Commissioner, given the disastrous performance of the previous officeholder, Charles Ramson Sr. Yet, more than a month into this administration, there is still no word on a replacement, even as other appointments have been hurried through. The message is clear: transparency is not a priority.

The pattern is unmistakable. From GECOM to the ministries, to the Office of the President itself, access to information is treated as a privilege to be granted sparingly, not a right guaranteed in a democracy. When institutions refuse to engage with the media, they refuse to engage with the public. They deny accountability. They entrench power.

This government, like GECOM, seems to prefer the comfort of echo chambers to the discomfort of scrutiny. But democracy dies in silence. The public has a right to know. Journalists have a duty to ask. Institutions have an obligation to answer. Anything less is contempt for the very people in whose name they claim to act. President Ali and Justice Singh must be reminded that accountability is not optional. Information is not a favour. It is the lifeblood of democracy. A blackout of information — whether at GECOM or at the highest levels of government is nothing short of an assault on the public’s right to know. Until that culture changes, Guyanese will continue to live not in an era of transparency, but in one of carefully managed deception.

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• Editorial, GECOM, information blackout, PNCR, PPP/C

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