SOME members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCC I) have raised concerns over the handling of the body’s election of the 2016/2017 Council last Thursday and are calling for a re-run of the election.
According to the aggrieved members, the Constitution of the body has been breached by the holding of the Council Election on the same day of the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
GCCI’s 127th AGM was held last Thursday at the Roraima Duke Lodge in Kingston where the president’s report, Auditors’ report and financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2016 were read and the election of the 2016/2017 Council done.
Those who contend that the election was flawed argue that the rules of the Constitution do not permit for elections to be held on the day of the AGM, and deem the move “illegal”. They further contend that the act would “permit the elements of destruction to hijack the GCCI as a junior Private Sector Commission (PSC) corporation.”

They also alleged that the voting process was skewed, as nomination forms were not placed in a sealed ballot box in accordance with the rules.
According to the said rules, “Nominations for members of the Council duly nominated and seconded by a member shall be submitted by placing the nomination form in a sealed ballot box to be placed in the office of the Proper Officer no later than seven days prior to the meeting.”
Said rules also provide that if, however, there are more than 21 nominations for the election of members to the Council, “there shall be a ballot for their election at the meeting”, which process should be supervised by “the Proper Officer”.
The rules also state that the “voting papers” should be prepared by the “proper officer”, and should, on application, be handed to each member qualified to vote. At the completion of the voting exercise, the voting paper should be placed into a locked ballot box.

STANDARD PRACTICE
Asked for a comment Sunday, GCCI President,Vishnu Doerga told the Guyana Chronicle that the allegations are inaccurate, since the election followed standard practice, based on the established rules that govern elections.
Doerga explained that notice was sent out three weeks before the AGM to all members;a requirement he said is mandatory. He noted, too, that nominations and elections are to be done on the same day as the AGM and voting is done by secret ballot.
“The ballot box was empty, and it was verified to be empty…It was empty and verified, then locked and then opened for counting,” a surprised Doerga said, adding:
“There were no more than 21 options; the votes were tallied, and one week from now there will be elections for the executive. The rules state that elections are to be held no later than March 31, and notice was done 21 days before.”
Contending that the information the media has been fed is misleading, Doerga said:
“The election was done in full sight of all members present by secretariat staff.” As he went on to explain, he has been a member of the GCCI for four years, and that the very rules and procedures that were employed in the past were employed at last Thursday’s election.
Moreover, Doerga stated that the attendance at the AGM was the highest in recent times, “capping a year where every single key performance metric was at an all-time high for 128 years. Membership, projects, surplus, advocacy, members support, training activities etc.”
When asked why he believes some members of the GCCI would make such allegations against the organisation, Doerga said:
“A lot of members showed up who generally do not show much of an interest in the activities of the Chamber and seem to have been instructed to vote in a particular way to move the Chamber in a different direction.”
Doerga said though encouraged by the turnout, he is, however, concerned about “this new-found interest” but quickly pointed out that the situation illustrates democracy at work and noted that “persons will get the leadership they deserve.”