The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has expressed regret over the number of National Identification Cards with unacceptable photographs, and announced that measures are being taken to replace these.

Following is a GECOM press statement:
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), through this Media Statement, acknowledges that some National Identification Cards with photographs, which do not meet commonly acceptable standards, were produced for persons who were registered during the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise. The Commission accepts that, notwithstanding the quality control procedures which were installed throughout the three eight-hours shift system to ensure that ID Cards of the highest quality were produced, some ID Cards with photographs of objectionable quality bypassed this component of the production system and were dispatched among Cards of superior standard for distribution.

GECOM views this state of affairs as a very regrettable one and, consequently, is presently engaged in implementing several deliberate remedial measures with the objective of replacing all ID Cards with unacceptable photographs.

This matter has been and continues to be deliberated upon extensively at the level of the Commission, with technical input from the senior management staff of the Secretariat, with the aim of ensuring that corrective action is taken towards ensuring that an ID Card of superlative quality is delivered to each registrant.

Enquiries into the nature of the problem revealed to the Commission that the completed ID Cards with unacceptable photographs are mainly from Registration District No. 4. The Commission had earlier taken the purposeful decision to commence printing and distribution of ID Cards for registrants of this District simply because it is the Administrative Region with the largest number of registered persons, and was therefore likely to pose greater challenges in terms of achieving optimal distribution within the duration of the exercise. Curative action, which was implemented immediately upon detection during the initial production stages, led to the problem not being replicated in a significant way in the other Registration Districts.

The Commission equipped every ID Card Distribution Centre with a digital camera, with clear instructions for the relevant staff to retake registrants’ photographs which are found to be markedly dissimilar to the facial features of the respective registrants. This measure will continue at the temporary distribution offices until the end of the exercise.

Should any registrant, collecting his/her ID Card, not be satisfied with the quality of the photograph because his/her facial features are not recognisable, a request could be made for the photograph to be re-taken on the spot for remedial action, culminating with the replacement of the ID Card with an acceptable photograph. The staff at the Distribution Centres will have a collective say on whether the request is justified as against an attempt to abuse the system.

This measure of giving registrants the opportunity to have their photographs retaken (if found to be necessary) has resulted in 1,071 ID Cards with unacceptable photographs having been returned to the GECOM Secretariat as at 14/Dec/2009. While this relatively small number of faulty ID Cards has been returned to GECOM, 327,225 were uplifted by the respective registrants as at 14/Dec/2009. This represents the delivery of 76.2% of the total number of ID Cards produced for distribution.

GECOM recognises that there could be ID Cards with unacceptable photographs among those already delivered. Accordingly, affected persons will be afforded the opportunity to initiate remedial action during the conduct of the imminent Claims and Objections exercise for the upcoming Local Government Elections which will be carried out individually within all of the 71 Local Government Areas, i.e. 65 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and six Municipalities. We urge such persons to take advantage of this opportunity.

The Commission has taken cognisance of complaints that staff attached to some of the temporary distribution offices have been less than helpful in treating with requests from registrants for their photographs to be retaken. Some such staff have reportedly refused to accommodate the requests on the falsehoods that (i) they are not in possession of a camera, (ii) the registrant would have to visit the main Registration Area Office to have his/her photograph retaken, or (iii) the photograph could be retaken only during the upcoming Claims and Objections exercises. In view of this situation, GECOM has issued clear instructions for all Registration Officers to take the necessary steps to guarantee that the concerns of registrants, especially pertaining to the poor quality of their photographs on the respective ID Cards, are addressed in accordance with the deliberate corrective policies of the Commission.

GECOM is not overly worried about the cost associated with the replacement of ID Cards with unacceptable photographs, since (i) the photographs are being/will be retaken digitally, (ii) the Commission is in possession of more than adequate quantities of raw materials, and (iii) the production aspect will be undertaken by permanent GECOM staff of the Commission’s Registration Department during routine operations.

Notwithstanding the issue at hand, GECOM takes this opportunity to reassure all stakeholders that the Commission and its Secretariat recognise their collective responsibilities to carry out their mandates with utmost efficiency to the satisfaction of all concerned. Accordingly, the Commission and its Secretariat will never lose sight of the need to provide service of the highest quality.