GECOM launches investigation

Alleged LGE fraud at Rose Hall

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has launched an investigation into the alleged Local Government Elections (LGE) fraud which reportedly transpired at Rose Hall, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

The investigation was launched after 40 residents of Williamsburg, Rose Hall, sent two petitions to inform GECOM that they were fooled and tricked into signing a document which made them candidates on the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) List of Candidates for the upcoming LGE.
Speaking with this newspaper on Sunday, GECOM Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally said that the entity was investigating the incident, and noted that since this matter was “very technical, we would be examining it from all angles”.

He said Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, assisted by a high-level team from GECOM, would be visiting the area to conduct investigations into the matter before any decision was made.

The residents are peeved over the situation. They claim that two persons – Hemwattie Isaacs and Robert Bisram – who are candidates for the coalition Government at the upcoming polls are behind the fraud.
Nineteen persons are claiming that Bisram fooled them, while 21 are claiming that Isaacs fooled them into signing a document which makes them candidates for the APNU/AFC.

In separate petitions, it was stated that between January 11 and 24, Isaacs of Williamsburg South, Constituency Number Three, and Bisram, of Williamsburg Central, Constituency Number Two, went to those communities and bore false witness to the petitioners.

According to the petition seen by Guyana Times, both Isaacs and Bisram showed residents a form and told them that they were  visiting on behalf of the Rose Hall Town Council (RHTC) and villagers had to sign a form in order for the area to be cleaned and for drainage works to be done by the RHTC.

The petitioners said that they later learnt that the two had enlisted them as candidates for APNU/AFC for the upcoming LGE. “We wish to inform GECOM that we do not support APNU/AFC or any of its candidates for the LGE. We are supporters of the PPP/C [People’s Progressive Party/Civic],” the petitions stated.

The alleged fraud was later discovered after PPP/C LGE representative Vijai Ramo was in the process of acquiring the signatures needed. The candidates then learnt the forms signed had enlisted them as candidates for APNU/AFC for the local polls.

Ramo noted that there was one instance where an individual admitted signing for his entire household. That issue is being further investigated and the signatures which have been submitted to GECOM are being checked before the Police were summoned.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, one of the candidates on the APNU/AFC Rose Hall list served GECOM with a request to withdraw his name as a candidate.

“I did not know that I was signing to become a candidate for a political party. I am a PPP supporter and now my name is on APNU’s list as a candidate. The PPP ask me to be a candidate and I said no. I don’t want to go so far in politics; I have my business and is everybody support me. I have prepared a letter asking them to withdraw my name from their list. They will not get my support even if they refuse to do so.”