…Minister Lawrence says safeguards must be in place

EVEN as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) awaits the advice of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) on the establishment of additional workstations within the Arthur Chung Conference Centre so as to accelerate the pace at which ballot boxes are being processed, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence said safety is paramount to diminishing the risk of contracting the deadly virus.

In responding to a number of questions posed by reporters outside of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Saturday, Minister Lawrence said it is not for political parties to dictate how many more workstations should be added to the existing 10, even as she underscored the importance of having the safeguards in place to suppress any possible spread of COVID-19.

“It is not for the APNU or any other political party to say at this point ‘I want 10 or 20 [workstations],’” Minister Lawrence said, adding: “The main thing should be, ‘Can we carry out this operation within a safe environment?’”

She said it was with safety and security in mind that the Elections Commission, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, sought the advice of the representatives of the Health Emergency Committee, through the COVID-19 Task Force, on the utilisation of space within the Conference Centre, and the number of persons that could be present at any given time.
“Guyana is not safe right now, with regards to this pandemic; COVID-19 is real,” the Public Health Minister said.

TOOK A DECISION
Last week Tuesday, the Commission took a decision to have the number of workstations increased. However, before concretising its decision, it sought the advice of the Task Force. A site visit was conducted by the health experts on Thursday, and it was expected that a report would have been submitted to the Commission by Friday. However, the report containing the advice is still pending.

Already, six locations within the Conference Centre have been identified where workstations could be established. It is unclear at this point, whether the Commission would finalize its decision on the number of workstations to be added, in the absence of a report from the Task Force, or whether it will move to extend the 25-day timeline.

The delay in the submission of the report, according to the Opposition, is a delaying tactic being employed by the ruling A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) to frustrate the electoral process, but Minister Lawrence said that nothing could be further from the truth. She said that it is the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) which has been politicising COVID-19.

“If anybody wants to talk about politicising COVID-19, see the PPP; they are the ones that put people’s lives at stake. Since January when we were talking about it, they were telling people that I was lying; I was using it as a political gimmick. Well, we have 10 persons dead, and over 100 people who would have contracted this virus, including children, and four families,” Minister Lawrence said, while iterating the need to take the virus seriously.

She sad that like any other stakeholder in the process, the APNU+AFC is awaiting the report from the Task Force, so as to move the process forward.