OPPOSITION Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has submitted to President David Granger six candidates to be considered for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission and among them are controversial Indian rights activist, Rhyaan Shah and a two-time elections candidate for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Professor James Rose. Other nominees include, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Consultant, Lawrence Latchmansingh; business executive, Ramesh Dookhoo; former chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Norman Mc Lean; and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram. Under the Constitution, President Granger does not have to accept the nominees and can send the list back for the Opposition leader to furnish him with other candidates. Jagdeo said the candidates were arrived at during his round of consultations with civil society recently. He said too that all of the candidates have consented to serve if offered the post.
Speaking at a news conference at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday, Jagdeo said all of the candidates are qualified for the chairmanship of GECOM, noting that he hopes President Granger soon chooses one of them.

“I think they all are strong people and courageous people and people who have demonstrated that they are prepared to serve the country’s interest, not partisan interest, so that is my sense. I did not go into any great detail about their management styles or anything of that sort, but their names came forward from civil society, [I] reviewed these names, thought that they had some character traits that are necessary…,” the opposition leader said.
“A significant number came from the list proposed by civil society,” he said. The PPP/C, he said, consulted with more than 30 civil society and religious organisations, private sector, labour movement, youths and women.
“We believe that all these people have the requisite quality to be a good chairperson of GECOM,” Jagdeo said. “The process was not required by law or the constitution, yet we in the PPP thought that we needed to solicit opinions from a broad range of organisations reflecting the society. Given the importance of elections and the management of elections, we need to have free and fair elections and elections conducted above board,” Jagdeo said, while commenting on the consultations he had held.

Asked whether he has another list of candidates should the President reject his list, Jagdeo responded: “I don’t want to deal with that at this point in time, because it is our expectation that given that these names enjoy such broad support in civil society and there are people who have a demonstrated track record of acting independently and fearlessly, that the President will find it fit to choose one of them,” he said.
GIHA links
Meanwhile, a careful look at the candidates has revealed a mixed bag of personalities. Shah was the co-founder of the now defunct and divisive Guyana Indian Heritage Association (GIHA), which the then PPP government had neutralised by creating the Indian Arrival Committee, now renamed the Indian Action Committee. For his part, Latchmansingh is the former Programme Manager, Social Cohesion Programme, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Guyana. Since May 2003, Latchmansingh has managed activities to build local capacities for the peaceful resolution of disputes and promote the rule of law and democratic governance.
Between 2000 and 2002, Latchmansingh was also the Deputy Director of Asia Programmes at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington DC. Earlier (1991-1998), he volunteered with and eventually headed the local election observer group-the Electoral Assistance Bureau-in his native Guyana. Latchmansingh has an MBA from Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) and a BA in Theology from the University of the West Indies (Jamaica).

Chartered Accountant Ram has worked for many years with the local Elections Observer Bureau. A critic of both the former and present governments, Ram was recently hired as a forensic auditor by the current government. Ramesh Dookhoo is a business executive and former chairman of the Private Sector Commission. Observers have described him as a sympathizer to Jagdeo,with whom he has developed a close working relationship over the years.
McLean, for his part, had enjoyed a good working relationship with the former administration, serving as a member of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that had cleared former Minister of Home Affairs Gajraj of involvement in extra-judicial killings by the Phantom Squad. McLean also served as both Commissioner of Police and Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defenfe Force during the Forbes Burnham years. Since the early 1990s, McLean has been Human Resources Manager of Omai Gold Mines, a subsidiary of Canada’s Cambior Inc. A fixture in the business community, McLean has occupied a number of positions, including

President of the Guyana Manufactures Association, member of the Security Sub-Committee of the Local Organising Committee for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Deputy Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission and recently chairman of the Private Sector Commission.
Additionally, back in 2009, he and his wife, Evelyn Sita Ramlal, were charged with four

counts of conspiracy to defraud when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and were granted bail totalling $850,000. It was alleged that on December 10, 2004 and March 18, 2009 at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, Ramlal and McLean conspired with each other and person or persons unknown to forge an adoption order with respect to a girlchild, purporting to show that the said adoption order was issued on December 14, 2000 knowing same to be false. However, in 2011 the case was dismissed by Magistrate Fazil Azeez. Azeez had found that a prima facie case had not been made out against the defendants and so the charge levelled against them was dismissed. Azeez said too then that the court had upheld the no-case submission made by the defence, as the prosecution failed in its bid to advance sufficient evidence to make out a prima facie case against the defendants.
Revamp
Meanwhile, observers have said that now might be the appropriate time for the administration, together with the opposition and other stakeholders, to start thinking about radically reforming GECOM. The management of GECOM has always been fraught with deep political concerns and anxieties, given the history of elections here and their aftermath. The main sticking point, though there are several others that have plagued GECOM, is the manner in which commissioners are chosen. This methodology must as a matter of necessity change, if GECOM is to be managed efficiently.

For decades now elections observer groups from the Commonwealth, the Carter Center, the Organisation of American States, the Electoral Assistance Bureau, the Caricom Secretariat, and the Union of South American Nations have been insisting that while GECOM’s purpose for existence is to administer free and fair electoral processes, and while it is recognised that the commission has to be sensitive to and relate to political realities, its independence and impartiality must be protected.
The Carter Center following the 2001 elections had stated: “In advance of future elections, Guyana should consider reforms that would reduce the politicised composition of GECOM and move toward an Electoral Management Body (EMB) with a structure, composition and operations that are more consistent with international good practices and obligations, thus ensuring the independence and impartiality of the EMB.” The Carter Center had made similar observations in the 2006 and 2015 elections.