–questionable names to be put on Supplementary List

TODAY is the final day for a list of over 18,000 persons to collect their Identification (ID) cards from the offices of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), or be placed on a separate List. As of Sunday, the number of persons who have collected their ID cards thus far still at only around 300.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Commission told this newspaper on Sunday that she would be providing a breakdown of the total number which came forward, the Regions from which they came, and those who had written to the Commission on the question after the deadline has passed.

Asked whether the Commission is considering an extension of the 21 days given for the collection of the cards, and what would become of the uncollected cards, she noted that that will be up to the Commissioners and Chair, who are to meet again tomorrow.

“When the deadline has passed, it will be better for me to speak definitively on this aspect of ID cards,” the PRO said, adding: “I will have a better and detailed report in terms of the breakdown where those persons came from, and I might be able to say to you what’s the reason for them not collecting their ID cards.”

The list of names was published in the local newspapers earlier in November, while registered mails were also sent out to the individuals. Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh has stated that it is “worrying” when such a high number of persons, some for more than 11 years, have not taken the opportunity to collect their ID cards.

Meanwhile, last Tuesday, Commissioner Vincent Alexander said that he is not surprised that this number is very low, as he had long put forward that a number of these Guyanese may be deceased or overseas. “If these people who haven’t collected their cards consist of possibly the overseas dead, the local dead, and the overseas people who haven’t uplifted their cards, it’s nothing alarming. The number who haven’t uplifted their cards is in itself alarming; but the categories, there’s nothing alarming about it,” he said.

In keeping with the law, the decision has been taken that the names of the individuals who fail to collect their ID cards within 21 days will be excluded from the Official List of Electors [OLE] and placed on a Supplementary List on Elections Day. They will still be permitted to vote should they turn up with other appropriate identification, and will remain on the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRD).

Alexander explained that the matter is less about the failure to collect the ID cards, but the failure of the persons in question to present themselves as existing.

He stated: “We just have to deal with the issue to ensure that we don’t have these names hanging around to be manipulated at the electoral process… From observation, we don’t have that large number of people who don’t use ID cards, but, secondly, whether or not they’ve done it in the past, we have made an effort to say to these people ‘Come and uplift your cards.’ One has to take a non-response as a problem; we’re trying to determine these people’s existence.” Although just hours now left, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) General Secretary Joseph Harmon urged the individuals at a press conference on Friday to come clean, stating that when the opposite is experienced, one ought to question it.

He criticised the Opposition for its standoffish approach to the situation. Harmon stated: “The PPP/C’s attitude to the electoral roll is further manifested in their approach to the distribution of ID cards. GECOM has failed in its repeated efforts to locate several thousands of persons for the purpose of delivering ID cards. At this time, over 17,000 ID cards remain uncollected. While those persons existence remain in question, the only concern of the PPP is that those names — representing the dead, the living or the non-existent — should remain on the list. We must all ask ourselves why.”

The highest numbers of uncollected ID cards come from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) at approximately 9,343 cards, and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) at some 3,267.