…Robeson Benn leads walkout from statutory meeting
A GUYANA Elections Commission (GECOM) meeting, which was expected to discuss critical issues pertaining to the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), was abruptly adjourned on Tuesday as a result of a heated confrontation between the Chairman, Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson and Commissioner Robeson Benn over the ethnic composition of the secretariat’s workforce.
At an event at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre in May, Benn, a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) representative on the Commission, alleged that the workforce of the Guyana Elections Commission Secretariat is dominated by Afro-Guyanese. In fact, Benn went one step further and alleged that 90 per cent of the workforce is made-up of Afro-Guyanese.
These sentiments in recent days have been repeated by other senior PPP functionaries including former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon.
On Tuesday, when the meeting was called to order, it was the intention of the GECOM Chairman to address the inaccuracy in statements peddled by Benn in the public domain, before deciding on the appointment of a Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), and a plan of action for Local Government Elections scheduled for later this year.
Justice (Ret’d) Patterson reprimanded Commissioner Benn, noting that contrary to the information peddled by him, 46 per cent of the workforce comprises Afro-Guyanese. Without hesitation, Commissioner Benn reportedly shouted “I disagree with you!”
The meeting, sources say, was reduced to a heated back and forth between the Chairman and the Commissioner. At the time, the Commission’s coalition representatives, Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman were present in addition to PPP Commissioners Bibi Shadick and Sase Gunraj. The meeting was subsequently adjourned.
When it resumed minutes later, Commissioner Benn was warned about his behaviour, but this did not sit well with him. For a second time, the meeting was adjourned.
In a press conference in the compound of the GECOM’s Secretariat, Alexander, backed by Corbin and Trotman, said that Commissioner Benn was offered the opportunity to provide the evidence that would substantiate his claims but failed to do so.
“The Chairman challenged his (Benn’s) statistics. He could not provide evidential information in relation to the statistics but maintained that there was a problem with the ethnic balance at GECOM,” Alexander told reporters.
UNFORTUNATE
Describing the event that occurred at the Secretariat on Tuesday as “unfortunate,” Alexander noted that the bickering between the Chairman and Commissioner Benn has been ongoing for some time. “For some time now there has been an ongoing interaction, not the most pleasant, not the most diplomatic, not the most acceptable between the Chairman and one of the commissioners, namely commissioner Benn,” he said.
He added that the issue gave rise to Tuesday’s impasse resulting in the meeting being adjourned at a time when critical decisions were on the table to be made. According to Alexander, prior to the adjournment, Justice (Ret’d) Patterson indicated that he would not allow the Commissioner to continuously disrupt meetings of the Commission, and would only engage him when he is speaking to an issue on the flood.
“That led to an impasse and an exchange that caused the chairman to adjourn the meeting,” he added. He maintained that since Justice (Ret’d) Patterson took office as Chairman, there has been “this disconnect and sometimes disruptive interaction” particularly from Commissioner Benn.
While Alexander said he believes that the meeting should not have been adjourned and that the matter could have been handled differently, he said he understands the Chairman’s frustration.
Questioned what the ethnic composition of the secretariat is, Alexander made it clear that the GECOM Secretariat is not into hiring persons on the basis of race. “I cannot say and I pose the question: Does GECOM in its recruitment ask people their ethnicity and on what basis can someone come to the percentage if we do not keep information on ethnicity, so I can’t answer the question,” he responded.
He noted that given the perceived concerns of Commissioner Benn, it is he, who should have made a proposition. “My point is, if he raises the matter, two things should happen, one he should present the evidence and on the other hand he himself should have a proposition as to how the matter should be addressed,” he said.
In a joint press statement, the PPP Commissioners told a different story. According to them, during the statutory meeting, Justice (Ret’d) Patterson in raising the issue surrounding the composition of the workforce of the secretariat prevented Commissioner Benn from justifying his position.
“In responding to the Chairman, Commissioner Benn attempted to justify his assertion and in doing so, pointed out that the perception was that the vast majority of the staff of the Commission were persons of one ethnic descent …. The Chairman prevented Commissioner Benn from defending his position and when challenged, adjourned the meeting for over half an hour,” the statement issued by Benn, Gunraj and Shadick read.
They alleged that the Chairman although disputing Benn’s claim did not offer any evidence to substantiate his position. “Upon resumption, the Chairman announced that Commissioner Benn would not be recognised and therefore was prevented from participating in the remainder of the meeting. We were therefore forced to walk out of the meeting,” the Commissioners said.
The next statutory meeting of the commission is next Tuesday.
