Dear Editor,
COMMISSIONER Vincent Alexander recently published an outburst deserving of full condemnation, in an unjustified attack on Retired Justice Claudette Singh, Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

His duplicitous rants serve only to reinforce the litany of constitutional and other failures that he is now known to be associated with, particularly, the continuous undermining role of the commission of his employ.

The recent matter relates to the commission’s consideration and approval of a petition for the temporary secondment of the GECOM IT Manager to the Operations Department of the commission’s secretariat. In this respect, Alexander seems to be objecting to the particular staff rendering interim assist to the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) with the regularization of some day–to–day organizational work, and this was indeed petty and infantile.

Alexander is fully aware that Local Government Elections are overdue and it is imperative that GECOM put all systems in place to hold LGEs immediately. It is, however, not surprising that he sought to prematurely throw up another tantrum of convenience, targeted at slowing down the GECOM hosting of the LGEs.

These intermittent acts of defiance run contrary to the level of objectivity required of the commission concerning its functions defined under the spirit and intent of article 162 of our Constitution. In particular, Section 162 (1) (b) states: “the Commission – shall issue such instructions and take such action as appear to it necessary or expedient to ensure impartiality, fairness, and compliance with the provisions of this Constitution or of any Act of Parliament on the part of persons exercising powers or performing duties connected with or relating to the matters aforesaid.”

There appears to be only very little or no consideration of the meaning of impartiality, fairness, and expediency in the dictionary of Alexander. He was conveniently and conflictingly silent when the brutal assault by Keith Lowenfield was launched on the true results of the March 2020 elections results, invalidating the votes of thousands of electors.

On numerous occasions, when the former CEO usurped the authority of the commission in an attempt to execute heinous acts against our nation, he seemingly lost his voice.

It would be recalled that when the shoes were on the other foot with condemned former CEO Keith Lowenfield in full flow, Alexander hypocritically penned a letter accusing the then-PPP/C commissioners of grandstanding. Concerning ‘the preparedness of GECOM for the local government elections,’ he stated, “I will lend my effort to GECOM being prepared and allow history to determine the correctness of the Benn, Shadick, and Gunraj contention.”

This situation allows one to pose questions about why his concerns have now changed. Duplicitous and conceited indeed!

An examination of Alexander’s track record indicates that he was removed as Regional Executive Officer at Region #3, he was removed from the University of Guyana, he was removed from the Leadership of the PNC, he was removed as a Member of Parliament, and his role in the Task Force that was set up to revisit the local government system became highly questionable.

As for his performance as a PNC representative on GECOM, most persons do not appreciate his ‘obstructionist’ approach to the work of the commission. Further, he was swiftly removed after turning out to be a failure as Chairman of the PNC’s youth arm, the YSM.

The negativity of Alexander suggested a tacit role as a part of the cabal that witnessed the PNC’s desperate effort to rig the 2020 National and Regional Elections. As he boasts of being the longest-serving commissioner, his overzealous and conveniently biased disposition has been uncompromising in diminishing GECOM’s neutral mandate and goals unless it benefits the PNC.
The fact is that GECOM must be able to produce free and fair elections. Hence, all the rogue elements must be removed.

Consequently, GECOM must produce a list of its staff strength. Those that were involved in the skullduggery on the East Coast of Demerara, who cannot give an explanation of what took place concerning documents that were not in the ‘Boxes’ must face the consequences.

It must be made clear that Clairmont Mingo was employed in Region #5, and he was catapulted to Region Four as Returning Officer because all the others who were recommended were not clean enough to work at GECOM. Some of these persons who committed unpardonable sins are working at GECOM. The Guardian of Democracy must call for the removal of all the riggers at GECOM.

Guyanese must not accept the clandestine cleaning of the computers and no trace of the records at GECOM. The gerrymandering and changing of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council boundaries in 2016 and 2018 were done without any consultation with the PPP/C or any other civic group.

This practice by the likes of dishonest and delusional persons to frustrate the holding of LGEs must stop. The ludicrous concoctions, conflict and hypocrisy from the likes of Vincent Alexander cannot be condoned in the search for justice and the building of democracy.

Sincerely,
Neil Kumar