THE ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is standing its ground on the issue of public vetting of staffers engaged by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).“The PPP will continue its relentless advocacy for strong, well trained and neutral polling day staff to be recruited,” said the Party’s General Secretary, Clement Rohee, yesterday at a news conference held at Freedom House.

He reasoned that the discrepancies during the 2011 General and Regional elections, relative to unstamped ballots and voters being misdirected, are what inform the PPP’s position.
“The PPP maintains its call for public vetting of polling day staff in the same manner the names of the Registration Officers were published in daily newspapers. There should be no secrecy in this process since the integrity of the electoral process lies in the hands of these individuals and all Guyanese, including political parties, must be able to contribute to the screening of these persons,” Rohee said.
He also reiterated the Party’s position on the use of Information Clerks also remains unchanged.
The General Secretary said, “The PPP wishes to strongly reinforce its position when it comes to the use of Information Clerks, chaos and frustration wreaked havoc on 28th November, 2011 due to the poor work of these GECOM officers.
“Many persons were frustrated to the point that they decided not to cast their ballots and returned home. GECOM must ensure that if Information Clerks will be employed this time around they are carefully selected and properly trained to function in a neutral manner in the execution of their duties at polling places.”
He added that these issues must be addressed to ensure that the May 11 General and Regional Elections are free and fair.
“Guyanese must demand that all legitimate and meaningful concerns raised by the PPP or any other political or civil group are addressed so that the Regional and General Elections will be free and fair and free from fear,” Rohee said.
GECOM ASSURES
GECOM Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, when asked to respond to the Party’s concerns noted that the Commission’s position on the matter also stands.
“There is nothing new to be added to the debate. I have responded to this before and my answer remains the same,” he said, yesterday.
Prior to yesterday’s debate on the matter, Dr. Surujbally has assured that GECOM will not be hiring persons who do not satisfy the required qualification criteria.
The GECOM Chairman has assured that GECOM’s employment process will be guided by established employment best practices towards ensuring that the best candidates with the requisite knowledge, skills and experience are appointed to the various positions that are relevant to elections management.
Additionally, the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Vishnu Persaud, had also reiterated similar sentiments before.
Asked about the PPP’s objections to information clerks, he said, “That (the existence of problems) might have been so, but it does not negate the merits of having information clerks. They do provide a valuable service. While there is a call for us not to have these clerks, there is a counter call to say we are not doing enough when it comes to this issue.”
The DCEO added that employees engaged by GECOM are already vetted.
He said, “We have vetted our polling day staff. We sent out applications, people responded, we shortlisted them on the basis of the criteria we set out. We have trained them. We went through evaluations and on this basis, the levels of achievement, we will be selecting people to work in polling stations.”
Persaud added that the persons hired are also dispatched within their areas, where they are known to the voters in that particular area.
PUBLIC VETTING
He expressed the view that public vetting of the Commission’s employees may be a counter-productive engagement.
“We have received calls from potential employees that say, you publish our names we will not work,” the DCEO stated, adding that in this regard GECOM may find itself unable to fill the staff quota needed for the hosting of the May 11 General and Regional Elections.
“We are confident that the people we have appointed and will appoint are persons who are adequately trained and would have demonstrated competence,” Persaud said.
GECOM’s senior officials have expressed confidence in the electoral process and in the Commission’s ability to conduct free and fair elections.

(By Vanessa Narine)