…had called for new registration, electoral reforms months after losing office
…PM, Lawrence urge Guyanese to reject boycott calls

LESS than four years after the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) championed calls for house-to-house registration among a series of electoral reforms, it has backpedalled on its position, Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, said on Wednesday.

In a frank discourse on 94.1 FM’s Hot Seat Programme, Minister Lawrence, while alluding to the October 6, 2015 Edition of the Stabroek News, said the PPP/C after suffering a major blow at the 2015 elections, had called for electoral reforms even as it challenged those elections. A fresh voters list, improved bio-metrics, electronic voting and a new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) were among the electoral reforms that were placed on the front burner by the PPP/C, according to the article headlined, “PPP wants fresh voters list among other electoral reforms.”

But the PPP/C’s agenda, the Minister said, has drastically changed. “Now the PPP is saying that the list, that they found not to be acceptable, that it is now acceptable,” Minister Lawrence pointed out on the programme while asking Guyanese to compare the 2011 Voters’ List with that of the 2015 Voters’ List. According to her, it is vastly different – with the latter showing a significant increase in persons.

“We are all aware, especially the political persons who have been in the opposition, that for many many years we have been trying our best through the due process that is allowed to us, to remove persons from that list that ought not to be there and we never had a chance, irrespective of the documentation that we presented at the objections period,” Minister Lawrence said.

The Voters’ List expired on April 30, 2019, and is said to have in excess of 600,000 persons registered on it. The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), in keeping with a decision taken by the duly constituted commission before the resignation of Justice (Ret’d) James Patterson, has commenced house-to-house registration. The opposition objected, and through Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram, has mounted legal actions to block house-to-house registration but that Conservatory Order was refused. The opposition is also calling for Guyanese to boycott the registration exercise but that constitutes an offence.

CREDIBLE LIST
Minister Lawrence, in endorsing the move by the Elections Commission, said house-to-house registration will only result in a credible list, to be used in the upcoming elections. The process, she emphasised, is critical.

“This is a process that must take place to ensure that elections are credible. We are going to elections. We are not running away from it but we are saying that the elections must be credible and one of the main aspects of having credible elections begins with the list,” the Public Health Minister said.

As stated by President David Granger, Minister Lawrence said the list is not only bloated with names of persons now deceased, but also includes Guyanese who have migrated for extensive periods. “It is not for this upcoming election that you cannot find them, we could not find them in previous elections when this list was used. The time is ripe for us to have house-to-house registration, and let it be known, we don’t want to disenfranchise anyone. We want to ensure that all persons, all Guyanese are given the opportunity to register,” she posited. The Minister explained that many young eligible persons, whose personal data have never been entered into the National Database or National Register, would be disenfranchised if they are not registered.

ELECTIONS FRAUD
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said to use an expired list to conduct elections, would be to commit elections fraud. However, he said the best way to ensure a clean voters’ list would be through house-to-house registration.

It was at this point, that the prime minister, who shared the studio with Minister Lawrence, criticised the opposition for backpedalling on its People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) legacy. “The best part of my life was the political struggles to ensure that people have the right to vote in free, fair and credible elections. That is the legacy of Cheddi Jagan, that is the legacy of the PPP and to find these romp who call themselves leaders going back on that legacy to empower Guyanese people is disgraceful and I say that emotionally because you are trying to disempower people”, the prime minister said.

He said at a time when Guyana is preparing for oil production in 2020, it is important for Guyanese to reposition themselves, and not to be misled by the rhetoric’s of the PPP/C. “Guyanese where ever you are, do not fall for this negative line that you should not register, put your name on the National Register, put your name on the database of your country. We need to know all Guyanese who are 14 years or over that they have an ID card they can be accountable for and we can know where they are. Opportunities are waiting for you in the future and the nation needs to know that you are registered,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo said. Government-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, during another radio programme on Tuesday, confirmed that the expired Voters’ List is bloated. He said a vast number of persons, on the list, are either dead or have migrated. The President has put this figure at 200,000.