–Dr. Hinds urges, says house-to-house registration will lend to credible elections

AT A time when Guyana is on the verge of an economic transformation that could see a positive ripple effect in critical sectors, the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), it would appear, is attempting to drive the country into a state of crisis, says political scientist, Dr. David Hinds.

The December 21 No-Confidence Motion has triggered the need for early elections, but with the Voters’ List now expired, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), an independent constitutional agency, has embarked on house-to-house registration, a process that would result in the generation of a valid and credible Voters’ List. But the Opposition, in its quest for early General and Regional Elections, is demanding that the process be scrapped, and elections be held, using the expired Voters’ List.

In fact, Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo has called on Guyanese to boycott house-to-house registration, with his party threatening that it will not recognise any voters’ list arising from the national registration process. Dubbing the actions of the Opposition “political sabotage”, Dr. Hinds said the motive of the PPP/C ought to be questioned.

Posing questions of his own, Dr. Hinds said: “What is the ulterior motive? Is it that you want to push this situation to crisis point? Are you doing everything to push this situation to crisis point, so it can blow out of proportion? Then who does it benefit?

Opting to answer the questions himself, Dr. Hinds said during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle: “It may benefit the PPP in the short term; it may benefit Mr. Jagdeo in the short term, but I think, in the long-term, it does not benefit this nation.”
He is of the belief that the Opposition is setting the stage for a political collision at a time when the country’s oil-and-gas industry is on the horizon.

Said he: “We can ill afford to be on the brink of the greatest opportunity we have had in 400 years to deal with some of the structural problems that we have brought with us from the Middle Passage to the present; that on the eve, you are putting this country at risk by creating this uncertainty and instability. I think that is a greater crime than telling your people not to register,” Dr. Hinds said, adding that it is important for constitutional and political actors to “marry principle with practicality” when interpreting the Constitution and the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), as suggested by Justice Jacob Wit.

Dr. Hinds noted that while the CCJ, in validating the No-Confidence Motion against the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government, read and interpreted Articles 106 (6) and (7) of the Constitution together, here in Guyana, some “jurists” tend to read the sub-articles separately, when, in fact, they should be read together.

MUST BE READ TOGETHER
When read together, the sub-articles state that upon the passage of a No-Confidence Motion, elections must be held within three months, or at a later time, as approved by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly.

“They have to be read together, because, if you read them together, you will recognise that holding an election in 90 days is not absolute,” Dr. Hinds emphasised, noting that in crafting the Constitution, the authors took into consideration that there might be factors that would not allow for credible elections to be held within 90 days, hence, the proviso was inserted to allow for an extension. GECOM’s inability to hold elections within three months is one such factor, the political scientist reasoned.

On the basis that GECOM is not in a position to facilitate credible, free and fair elections within three months, Dr. Hinds said that the Opposition, together with the Government, should extend the period for elections by a two-thirds majority vote in the National Assembly. He warned that using an expired Voters’ List amounts to electoral fraud, and that that, too, can result in litigation.

“There is a society; there is a place called Guyana, and we know that Guyana has had troubled elections. So one has to be very careful in Guyana about elections, because there are consequences that are deep here, that may not occur in other societies. So it is very important that we get the preparations for the elections right,” the political scientist said, adding:

“It is for that reason I think that the house-to-house registration is the better option. I am not saying that Claims and Objection would not help in cleaning the list; it would help, but the problems with that list are complex. You have people who, for example, did not collect their ID cards; 20,000 of them.

That is four seats; you cannot play around, because elections are decided by one seat. Where are those people? Are they dead? If nothing else; if that alone was wrong with the list, it would be enough to have a new list. But there are other things; people have migrated; they have died.”

President David Granger and his Government, in endorsing house-to-house registration, have argued that the now expired voters’ list is bloated with over 200,000 dead people, and those who have since migrated.

Dr. Hinds, like the government, is calling on all Guyanese to participate in the national registration exercise, noting that once this process is completed, elections would be held shortly after. He warned that at this critical juncture, Guyanese must unite and resist any attempt at plunging the country into a state of instability or uncertainty, adding that should this come to pass, it would have social, economic and external implications.

Dr. Hinds also used the opportunity to encourage the government, and the parties therein, to appeal to PPP/C supporters as the country heads to early elections.

“I think people like myself and others should be appealing to the PPP supporters; we may not get their votes, but we would put them in a state of mind where they would not allow themselves to be used in an unpatriotic manner; to be used in a criminal manner, and to put their country in harm’s way.”

GECOM has indicated to the Courts that it would be ready to facilitate elections after December 25, 2019, by which time house-to-house registration will have been completed, and a credible voters’ list generated.