The rationale behind our objection to the reopening of the Claims and Objections period
July 17, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under AFC Column, Features / Columnists
The Alliance For Change has noted with concern, the fact that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently giving serious consideration to a request from the PPP to reopen the claims and objections period.
This concern has prompted the AFC to write the chairman of the Elections Commission, expressing our strong objection to such reopening. We moreover picketed the office of the Commission last Friday, as we believe that the gravity of this situation warrants serious attention.
At the heart of our concern lies the fact that any reopening of the claims and objections exercise has the potential to chart this country into an anxious realm of political uncertainty, fraught with too many unknown dilemmas. In this column, we will seek to explain the multifaceted sources of our concern with this reopening.
However, at the very outset, it should be established that for years, the Minister of Home Affairs boasted that all was fine with the work of the Registrar General’s office in conferring source documents to Guyanese citizens for the purpose of registration. This latest fiasco of the PPP requesting to reopen the claims and objections (C&O) period has revealed that all such posturing was indeed a sham, for which the PPP must take full responsibility.
An example of the flawed procedural work in the conferment of source documents is the case of Paramakatoi where, while some residents received multiple copies of birth certificates, others received none.
In a word, this is not a failure of GECOM but that of the PPP administration, through its Ministry of Home Affairs.
GECOM has a constitutional duty to register the electorate, but it can only register those who have the relevant source documents and are willing to step forward and get registered. However, what is bubbling to the top of the pot is a marked trepidation at Freedom House that their once expansive electoral base may indeed be dwindling. The implications of the AFC making remarkable inroads in places like Cane Grove and Bath seem now to be dawning on the political pundits at Robb and Wellington Streets.
The first abiding concern of the AFC is the fact that any reopening of the claims and objections period will inevitably delay the date for the holding of general elections. This will give the PPP carte blanche to continue to abuse and misuse taxpayers’ money to prop up its misleading campaign.
The AFC firmly believes that there is a strong element of immorality attached to the PPP’s misuse of State funds to promote its campaign, and quite frankly, we will not be party to any initiative intended to extend this abuse.
The unapologetic and recalcitrant response of firstly Anil Nandlall in the National Assembly in response to Mrs. Sheila Holder’s motion on campaign financing and now President Jagdeo’s recent comments in the press, have strengthened our resolve to oppose and depose this morally corrupt cabal.
A second source of consternation for the AFC which activates our reservation about this proposed reopening, is that if the constitutional due date in December of 2011 is not met, Guyana would be entering unchartered political waters. A realm that is fraught with uncertainties, dangers and pitfalls. When the factor of flammable ethnic tensions and suspicions are factored into this equation, the situation becomes more worrisome. The AFC believes that we must all work strenuously to avoid jeopardizing of our fragile democracy.
Specifically speaking, the following can be submitted: the registration of these persons not currently on the register will mean a whole host of activities to be put back in motion. Offices will have to be re-opened; scrutineers will have to be again enjoined in the process; these new registrants will have to be put into the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) and sent overseas for cross-matching scrutiny by the fingerprinting experts to see whether any duplication has occurred.
We understand that the fingerprints of voters on the existing PLE have already gone out to the overseas firm for cross-matching. One cannot just collect 5,000 new registrants and send these to the firm overseas. They have to be put into the mix with all the rest of the 470,000 or so voters already on the PLE to cross-match with all the fingerprints on the said list. Imagine that!
That we understand will take months. The PPP is well aware of this and very well knows that an extension of 13 days will have the evil repercussion in throwing back the elections by over 5 months.
In our correspondence with the Elections Commission, we have pointed out the Commission’s obligation to demonstrate impartiality and nonpartisanship in its dealings with all political entities. We have warned its goodly chairman that GECOM is under no legal or moral commitment to collude with the PPP in isolating the concerns of the other contesting political stakeholders.
We have stated to him quite frankly that any such collusion would see a considerable depreciation of GECOM’s credibility, bringing into question its ability to conduct free and fair elections, not to mention the unmanageable tensions that are likely to arise in such a situation.
Additionally, the threat of Court action by the PPP must not be used to pressure GECOM to re-open the C&O period. The Court under the doctrine of separation of powers ought not to usurp the jurisdiction of the GECOM commissioners, who are the ones given the powers by the constitution to decide on this issue.
In this column we have sought to summarize the multifaceted sources of our concern with regard to this request by the PPP to reopen the C &O period. We strongly object and have communicated this to the Elections Commission.
We believe reopening the C &O process has the potential to chart Guyana into a realm fraught with constitutional uncertainties. Undergirding all of this is a developing trepidation at Freedom House, and at the Office of the President, that its incompetence and corruption which has ravaged this nation to its core, might indeed be coming home to roost.
July 17, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under AFC Column, Features / Columnists
The Alliance For Change has noted with concern, the fact that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is currently giving serious consideration to a request from the PPP to reopen the claims and objections period.
This concern has prompted the AFC to write the chairman of the Elections Commission, expressing our strong objection to such reopening. We moreover picketed the office of the Commission last Friday, as we believe that the gravity of this situation warrants serious attention.
At the heart of our concern lies the fact that any reopening of the claims and objections exercise has the potential to chart this country into an anxious realm of political uncertainty, fraught with too many unknown dilemmas. In this column, we will seek to explain the multifaceted sources of our concern with this reopening.
However, at the very outset, it should be established that for years, the Minister of Home Affairs boasted that all was fine with the work of the Registrar General’s office in conferring source documents to Guyanese citizens for the purpose of registration. This latest fiasco of the PPP requesting to reopen the claims and objections (C&O) period has revealed that all such posturing was indeed a sham, for which the PPP must take full responsibility.
An example of the flawed procedural work in the conferment of source documents is the case of Paramakatoi where, while some residents received multiple copies of birth certificates, others received none.
In a word, this is not a failure of GECOM but that of the PPP administration, through its Ministry of Home Affairs.
GECOM has a constitutional duty to register the electorate, but it can only register those who have the relevant source documents and are willing to step forward and get registered. However, what is bubbling to the top of the pot is a marked trepidation at Freedom House that their once expansive electoral base may indeed be dwindling. The implications of the AFC making remarkable inroads in places like Cane Grove and Bath seem now to be dawning on the political pundits at Robb and Wellington Streets.
The first abiding concern of the AFC is the fact that any reopening of the claims and objections period will inevitably delay the date for the holding of general elections. This will give the PPP carte blanche to continue to abuse and misuse taxpayers’ money to prop up its misleading campaign.
The AFC firmly believes that there is a strong element of immorality attached to the PPP’s misuse of State funds to promote its campaign, and quite frankly, we will not be party to any initiative intended to extend this abuse.
The unapologetic and recalcitrant response of firstly Anil Nandlall in the National Assembly in response to Mrs. Sheila Holder’s motion on campaign financing and now President Jagdeo’s recent comments in the press, have strengthened our resolve to oppose and depose this morally corrupt cabal.
A second source of consternation for the AFC which activates our reservation about this proposed reopening, is that if the constitutional due date in December of 2011 is not met, Guyana would be entering unchartered political waters. A realm that is fraught with uncertainties, dangers and pitfalls. When the factor of flammable ethnic tensions and suspicions are factored into this equation, the situation becomes more worrisome. The AFC believes that we must all work strenuously to avoid jeopardizing of our fragile democracy.
Specifically speaking, the following can be submitted: the registration of these persons not currently on the register will mean a whole host of activities to be put back in motion. Offices will have to be re-opened; scrutineers will have to be again enjoined in the process; these new registrants will have to be put into the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) and sent overseas for cross-matching scrutiny by the fingerprinting experts to see whether any duplication has occurred.
We understand that the fingerprints of voters on the existing PLE have already gone out to the overseas firm for cross-matching. One cannot just collect 5,000 new registrants and send these to the firm overseas. They have to be put into the mix with all the rest of the 470,000 or so voters already on the PLE to cross-match with all the fingerprints on the said list. Imagine that!
That we understand will take months. The PPP is well aware of this and very well knows that an extension of 13 days will have the evil repercussion in throwing back the elections by over 5 months.
In our correspondence with the Elections Commission, we have pointed out the Commission’s obligation to demonstrate impartiality and nonpartisanship in its dealings with all political entities. We have warned its goodly chairman that GECOM is under no legal or moral commitment to collude with the PPP in isolating the concerns of the other contesting political stakeholders.
We have stated to him quite frankly that any such collusion would see a considerable depreciation of GECOM’s credibility, bringing into question its ability to conduct free and fair elections, not to mention the unmanageable tensions that are likely to arise in such a situation.
Additionally, the threat of Court action by the PPP must not be used to pressure GECOM to re-open the C&O period. The Court under the doctrine of separation of powers ought not to usurp the jurisdiction of the GECOM commissioners, who are the ones given the powers by the constitution to decide on this issue.
In this column we have sought to summarize the multifaceted sources of our concern with regard to this request by the PPP to reopen the C &O period. We strongly object and have communicated this to the Elections Commission.
We believe reopening the C &O process has the potential to chart Guyana into a realm fraught with constitutional uncertainties. Undergirding all of this is a developing trepidation at Freedom House, and at the Office of the President, that its incompetence and corruption which has ravaged this nation to its core, might indeed be coming home to roost.
