WHILE the period for persons to collect their Identification (ID) Cards from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has been extended, the Guyana Chronicle was made aware that persons now residing overseas have been contacting the commission about their whereabouts.

The newspaper was made privy to a letter sent to the commission recently from one Roy Thakurdyal, who is no longer in the country.
“I’m checking the list of ID cards not uplifted I saw the names of Alice and Roy Thakurdyal on the New Amsterdam list. My wife and I have been residing in Canada since 2008,” Thakurdyal said.

As of December 2, 2019, the total number of ID cards collected stood at 805 out of over 18,000 who have not collected their ID Cards in several years for unconfirmed reasons. Commissioner Vincent Alexander had stated that some of the highest numbers of collections came from Parika, Georgetown and Whim.

On a previous occasion, he said that he is not surprised that this number is very low, as he had long suggested that a number of these people may either be deceased or overseas. He explained that the concern is less about the failure to collect the ID Cards, and more about the failure of the persons in question to present themselves as existing.

The concern is even greater for those who may very-well be dead.
A commission member, who wished not to be named, told the newspaper recently that there are many unrecorded deaths in Guyana, especially in riverine and out-of-town areas, where dead persons are burnt without death certificates.

The General Registrar’s Office (GRO) can only bring to the attention of GECOM the deaths it has knowledge and proof of. This is just one of several reasons that some on the commission had stressed the need for GECOM conduct the house-to-house registration exercise – before its conclusion – which would create a new National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB).

Think lightly of these unknowns and the possibility remains for voting under the pretense of persons now dead. The matter has been levelled by citizens and polling day staff at several of Guyana’s past elections.

Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally, has noted that in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), persons were moved by certain political affiliates from the neighbouring town of Bonfim in Brazil, to Lethem, with the aim of having them vote as residents.
She noted that this is only one example and similar illegalities have occurred in places such as Coomacka, Hosororo, Wainaina and Mabaruma.

Even at the recent Local Government Election, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C) withdrew from contest in the Wakenaan Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) after it was found that a number of its nominators placed on the list were either dead or non-resident to the area. In November, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) APNU+AFC representative, Carol Joseph, was able to find 93 dead persons on the Preliminary List of Electors during the claims and objections period.

With such a NRRD some 11 years old, the commission has more so promoted Section six (6A) of the National Registration Act which states that: “The Elections Commission shall use the Official List of Electors from the 2001 General and Regional Elections as the base to commence continuous registration provided that at any stage the commission may undertake such verification as necessary by a means to be determined by the commission.

This is why the commission initially made the call for persons who had not collected their ID cards – some from as far back as 2008 – to do so or at least state their existence within 21 days. The newspaper was informed the commission is once again considering causing the names to remain on the Official Voters List but highlighted for greater scrutiny. They’ve considered that the placement of a supplementary list on Elections Day could cause confusion.

Meanwhile, regarding cross-matching, back on December 3, 2019, commissioners had updated that the information from the 370,000 transactions from the house-to-house exercise showed that some 60,000 forms did not “attract a hit,” meaning that they were new names not on the NRRD.

However, through its own efforts, the commission found that 17,000 persons, who were presumed to be new, were already on the database. Therefore, from the 43,000 persons, the Guyana Chronicle was informed that some 23,000 were persons under 18, while the remaining 20,000 are still undergoing a side-by-side match by the company to determine the number of new registrants. More information on this is expected to be presented in the coming week.