Voter registration reflects apathy
Penned under the hand of one Mr. Zamal Husain was a letter published in your issue of Monday February 19, 2018 and captioned WE NEED MORE GECOM CENTRES. To this, if you permit, I wish to make a response since it attacks the core of the Administration of, arguably, the best run bureaucracy in Guyana.
The writer gripes as follows: “The Commission only opens up GECOM main centres in the country. This is causing serious inconvenience to persons accessing these offices especially in Region Six.’ That suggestion needs to be warehoused. We are not a First World country. We are still, as I write, a Third World country “struggling we struggle”.
Yet, even in First World countries voters stand in line for hours, if not days, having walked for miles sometimes over unfriendly terrain to exercise their franchise, so what about us, I ask rhetorically?
The penury, which now faces this administration, results from the infelicities of regimes past, of both hues. The result is that the current Minister of finance has had to face his last budget with a fresh brutality thus emasculating GECOM in its expansion quest.
The Minister of Finance blamed his hatchet work mainly on GUYSUCO woes. Nevertheless, the infrastructure is here, for a harvest of hope in the future. Mr. Husain complains about registrants having to spend “close to four hours or even more … including waiting time” to complete their transaction. Is it not worth their while if the end result enables the government by the party of their choice?
Says Mr. Husain: “GECOM is indeed losing time, money and depriving them of their rights to be registered or correct situations that can hinder them to be an eligible voter in any elections.” This sounds as if Mr. Husain has begun to launch a pre-emptive strike in the event that the elections do not run in his favour for he carps at anything. Mr. Husain’s main concern should be that the elections are “free and fair” and he should let the chips fall where they may.
Mr. Husain continues: “The commission is trying to frustrate the citizens by using only the main offices to create a buildup of residents.” What a diatribe against the GUYANA ELECTONS COMMISSION! Such a diatribe is unworthy of any human being who has escaped the birth canal. The inference of malpractices to come in this charged political environment ought not to assume the default position of a side show. Such flam will not be tolerated.
In these challenging times GECOM staff are either just out of an election or are heading towards one as we are in fact currently. The atmosphere here is always abuzz with election fever. In these turbulent times the duty of the Commission is to exclude, like a prophylactic, the chronic mischief makers among us of whom I trust your correspondent Mr. Zamal Hussain is not one.
These employees go beyond the call of duty in the service of their country. I have commenced my visit to all the regions and have visited all the polling stations in Region Six and part of Region Four. Much to my dismay there was no scurrying of voters to register. This gives the lie to your correspondent’s main contention.
The traffic to the polling stations was pedestrian in every sense of the word. We intend to embark on a programme of voter education. Since the Registration phase started on February 5, 2018 the following statistics bespeak to me of a sense of apathy.
In Region One (1) as of today’s date there are 362 New Registrants; Region Two, 715; Region Three, 982. Region Four, 2,444; Region Five, 398; Region Six, 1062; Region Seven, 124; Region Eight, 132; Region Nine, 247 and Region 10, 354.
Mr. Editor, GECOM will attempt to render mute the disturbing echoes of the turbulent past and we will do our impartial best though the heavens fall.
Yours sincerely,
Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson
Chairman
Guyana Elections Commission
