CONCERNS of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) were, on Monday, reiterated by General Secretary Clement Rohee the most recent of which was that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) engages in public vetting of its Election Day staffers.

He said: “The PPP time and again has expressed concerns over the recruitment of polling day staff and had requested public vetting of these individuals.”
“This can only serve to improve the confidence of the electorate in GECOM and solidify its own integrity of elections management. It is important that the most suited persons based on experience, qualifications and background are employed to work on polling day.”

He reasoned that the Party’s request is legitimate, given reports of persons who acted biased and created problems in 2011 and previous elections.
“(These persons) must be debarred from working at elections again. The role of these individuals can never be over-emphasised in a smooth and transparent electoral process. Recruited persons tasked with upholding the democracy of our country must be made accountable to the Guyanese people,” Rohee said.
He added: “The PPP calls on GECOM to prevent the occurrences of 2011 in regards to last minute changes to polling stations and inexperienced information clerks misguiding voters.”
The PPP General Secretary stressed that all systems in place for election day must be transparent.
STAFF VETTED
Meanwhile, asked to comment on the matter, the Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), Vishnu Persaud explained that employees engaged by GECOM are already vetted.
He said: “We have vetted out 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.
He expressed the view that public vetting of the Commission’s employees may be a counter-productive engagement.

“Imagine you as a potential employee of GECOM. You did not have an indication that we will publish your particulars publicly. You might be apprehensive about. You may run away and leave us and then we don’t have people to work,” Persaud said.
The Deputy Chief Elections Officer expressed confidence in the electoral process and in the Commission’s ability to conduct free and fair elections.

(By Vanessa Narine)