— lest your own words come back to haunt you

OLD Kai enjoys listening to the venerable Chairman of GECOM, Dr. Steve Surujballi. You have to admire the man, as apart from being a professional vet and astute elections chairman, he appears to also be an expert in linguistics.How else can we explain the vet describing concerns of PPP/C Member of Parliament (MP), Manzoor Nadir on a number of questionable decisions he has made as GECOM Chairman of recent vintage as simply ‘doltishness’.
In all my time of following the work of GECOM under his Chairmanship, I have never heard or read him respond to concerns of the Opposition in such a manner. Even when they held candlelight vigils outside his home after the last elections, he dared not utter such words. So, why has he reserved this special treatment only for PPP/C officials and activists?
But that is not the real focus of Old Kai in this article; what I am concerned about is a recent statement made by GECOM, in which it made several damning allegations without providing any evidence.
The Commission on Tuesday issued a statement alleging that persons claiming to be employees of GECOM have been visiting homes with copies of extracts of the current Preliminary List of Electors to check and advise residents on their registration status.
GECOM also noted that it launched an investigation, which revealed that the persons engaged in this activity are alleged Community Support Officers in Mabaruma and Port Kaituma. It further stated that their investigations show that the individuals have in their possession a copy of a letter, purportedly written by the Chief Executive Officer of the Region, Nigel Fisher, authorising them to engage in said activity.
Then, maybe by pure coincidence, the PNC/R=APNU simultaneously issued a statement, accusing youths of the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), the youth arm of the PPP, of being involved in the activity.
Now, there is nothing wrong with Party representatives going around and making their checks, using the Preliminary Voters List; all parties do that. But it appears this accusation of persons claiming to be GECOM officers was well coordinated.
It is here that Old Kai will return to the GECOM Chairman’s response to Mr. Nadir, as he was then quoted in the media as saying that Nadir had failed to produce ‘evidence’ of his accusations.
If we are to go by the rigid standards set by the GECOM Chairman, he may want to explain why his Commission failed to provide the ‘evidence’ to back up their accusations with regard to the Region One issue, particularly since we are informed that they conducted an investigation. Failure to do so will most naturally see Mr. Surujballi’s ‘doltishness’ reference come back to haunt him.
This position by GECOM becomes more bizarre, as we are now informed by the Regional Executive Officer of Region One, Nigel Fisher, via the media that he was never contacted by anyone from the Elections agency to verify claims before they publicly accused him of something which he has since denied. He is also unaware of the claims being made by GECOM of persons in the Region posing as staffers of the Commission, and conducting related work.
Therefore, we are left to wonder what kind of investigation GECOM really conducted, more so since this might see some stakeholders now questioning whether the outcome was pre-arranged.
Anyone could have made such an allegation, and, bearing in mind the alacrity with which the PNC/R=APNU issued their statement, I do not put it past them that they would have had their activists make such an accusation, simply to give their leaders something to distract the public with from all the negative publicity they have been receiving of late.
Still, this does not excuse the actions of GECOM; and if they want to shake off the growing perception that the PNC/R=APNU is their puppet master, they need to answer why they did not adhere to a basic principle of contacting the Region One REO and verify the allegations before libeling him.
We may now have to add ‘Cowboy’ to the growing list of endeavours of Mr. Surujballi, as GECOM now seems intent on shooting first and asking questions later. Maybe he received some ‘props’ from that controversial rodeo trip to the Rupununi.