…after its August 15 meeting
…gov’t assures commission of full support, non-interference

CHAIRMAN of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh has informed President David Granger that she will advise him on the Elections Commission’s readiness for elections after her August 15, 2019 meeting with the full commission.

The recently-appointed Chairman of the Elections Commission; the GECOM Commissioners – Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin, Desmond Trotman, Sase Gunraj, Robeson Benn and Bibi Shadick; and the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield met with President Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency on Thursday. The Head of State was accompanied by Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo; Minister of Public Security and Vice-President, Khemraj Ramjattan; Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, SC; Minister of State, Dawn Hastings-Williams; Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon.

Moments after the very brief but cordial high-level meeting, President Granger, in the presence of his director-general, told journalists during a press conference at the Ministry, that the meeting was held at his request. The meeting between the government and Elections Commission was the first since Justice Singh took office on July 29, 2019.
The agenda, he said, was very simple – to address the topic of General and Regional Elections, a concern for all Guyanese. In that regard, the chairman assured the President and his government that she will communicate the Elections Commission’s position after meeting with the full commission on Thursday August 15, 2019.

The meeting of the full commission will take place one day after Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire is expected to deliver her ruling in the High Court on the constitutionality of the house-to-house registration embarked by the Elections Commission. The opposition, through Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram, has challenged the legality of the national registration exercise, and has asked the court to compel GECOM to conduct elections within three months from June 18, 2019 – the day that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) validated the no-confidence motion against the government. Ultimately, it wants elections to be held before September 18, 2019. But the attorney general has informed the High Court that in delivering the landmark ruling and its subsequent consequential orders, the CCJ made it clear that it is not within its remit to issue coercive orders and detailed directives instructing the Elections Commission or the Government to act. Guyana’s final appellate court, he argued, has made it clear that only the President, the National Assembly and implicitly GECOM, can set timelines and dates for elections. Added to that, he alluded to the fact that the Elections Commission has indicated that it is no position to facilitate elections by September 18, and has since (July 20) embarked on house-to-house registration in its quest to generate a credible list of electors.

President Granger, on Thursday, iterated that he will respect the decision of the Elections Commission as it upholds the principle of separation of powers. “Although it is early in the tenure of the new chairman, I don’t think it was inappropriate to meet at this time, to give her the assurance that the government is going to continue to observe the independence of the Elections Commission – It will not dictate, it will not interfere; it will not intrude in the work of the commission. It will observe all of the roles and responsibilities of the commission given to it by the Constitution,” the Head of State told reporters.

The President made it known that he will not heed to the demands of those who are insisting that he must set a date for General and Regional Elections regardless of if GECOM is ready or not. “We are not in the business of giving any direction to the commission. The chairman will advise me on the readiness of the commission, so we are not proposing any role. As far as the readiness is concerned, the chairman must advise me,” President Granger said as he iterated a position he has long held.

The Head of State said he will act based on the advice of GECOM. “Once I receive advice from the chairman of the commission, I will act on that advice, and we expect that all Guyanese will respect the independent role of the Elections Commission, and that we can proceed to General and Regional Elections, in accordance with the work which that commission has to do,” he said.

In the meeting, he also assured the commission that government will provide it with all necessary resources to facilitate credible, free and fair elections. Already GECOM has been allocated close to $8B. As part of the National Budget for 2019, GECOM was allocated $5.546B – this sum, however, was supplemented with an additional $3.482B in May, 2019 after the commission indicated to the President that it lacked the financial resources to facilitate early elections. “So our role is just to make sure that the commission has resources. We didn’t cross examine the commission, and we will allow the commission to do what it is authorised to do under the Constitution,” President Granger said while fielding questions from journalists.

In giving a broad overview of the meeting, the director-general explained that “it was a very brief meeting in which the President laid out what the government’s position is in relation to credible elections; to the consequential orders of the Caribbean Court of Justice; the way forward and the political situation in Guyana.”

He noted that detailed information on the topics discussed have been compiled in booklets produced by the government. The booklets are expected to be circulated within the Elections Commission. “It is important to know that His Excellency, the President, made it very clear, that the government will continue to provide all of the support necessary for elections, to the commission to execute its mandate. Additionally, the President made it clear that we were interested in early elections, and in credible elections, and the government will not dictate in any way to the commission, how they will do their work,” he summarised.