THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has decided to send Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, and his Deputy, Roxanne Myers on immediate leave this week.
The Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo was also sent on leave.
In other words, GECOM is finally beginning to do things that would drastically improve public confidence and support.

After all, these individuals were at the helm of the entity when Guyana made the world headlines in 2020. GECOM had failed for five months to declare a winner of the elections. They were at GECOM carrying out, allegedly, the political directives of their masters.

From their postures and tone, it was clear that they were not fair, independent, and diligent in their duties to the Commission. And when they came to the litmus test, the trio failed miserably to ensure that elections were free and fair. Added to that, they did not try to make sure that all the laws were upheld and enforced. It is a well-known fact that the GECOM’s CEO was disrespectful and defiant to the Chairman of GECOM.

So, the decision to send them on leave is being considered fair and justified. This move should have materialised since last year. But GECOM carefully followed all protocols necessary, and each person benefitted from time to mount a defence.

Now the work to clean up all the mess and debris at GECOM is beginning.
Firstly, the Commission must look at staffing concerns. It must move quickly to ensure all members of staff are neutral and apolitical in the discharge of their duties. A sub-committee should work on this. The committee should be confirming that all the contracts of staff meet the standard of fairness and qualifications. GECOM might find that some employees were not hired because of competence and according to the guidelines. If so, GECOM should let them go. It is also the case where some persons in the employment have jobs that are redundant or not needed.

Secondly, GECOM needs to get its act together. It needs professional and competent legal services and public relations. GECOM can no longer afford to pay out monies for external services representing the Commission whenever it has matters that would require judicial intervention. GECOM must look towards retaining a team of lawyers to handle the cases, even if they go to the CCJ.

Similarly, GECOM must hire a public relations expert solely concerned about communicating with the public efficiently. This person should be apolitical in his/her approach to the commission’s work. During the election fiasco, GECOM’S public relations strategy appeared to be lazy and willfully neglectful. There was a “blackout” or a deafening silence when it came to having information. Journalists had to resort to tracking and staking out at places to get information to report to the public. And the public relations and communication campaigns or initiatives were non-existent at different times during and after the election fiasco.

Thirdly, GECOM should urgently start reviewing its policies, regulations, guidelines, and best practices that govern elections laws, elections conduct of staff and management, and the elections generally. This review will allow for an in-depth analysis by the Commission on the way forward in these areas.

If individuals are weeded out from GECOM and it undergoes changes concerning reform internally and externally, the public morale and confidence would increase drastically. The Commission would be functioning effortlessly in making sure that elections rigging, elections dishonesty, and fraud are a thing of the past.

GECOM must use this phase and reflect on all that occurred during the last election if it is to come up with the kinds of recommendations for an action plan to move forward as one and to confront the challenges that lie ahead. It also needs the public and civil society to ensure that there is approval for the reformation process.
The public is watching and waiting to see if GECOM is on a path of reformation or it will just give us the same old thing. It must not be business as usual in Kingston until everyone gets on the train to elections that are freer, fairer, credible and independent.