GENERAL Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Mr. Oscar Clarke has stated that his Party is supportive of the work being done by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in preparation for the upcoming General and Regional Elections. This assurance was given during a meeting between a team of representatives of the PNCR and a team of GECOM Officials on Monday last at the Commission’s premises.

The meeting, which was held at the behest of the party, sought to clarify and draw attention to certain matters connected with the recent Cycle of Continuous Registration and the General and Regional Elections – 2011.

The GECOM Team comprised Dr. Steve Surujbally, Chairman; Commissioners Mr. Vincent Alexander, Dr. K. Mangal, Mr. Moen McDoom, Mr. Mahmood Shaw, Mr. Robert Williams; Mr. Gocool Boodoo – Chief Elections Officer,  Mr. Calvin Benn – Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Mr. Keith Lowenfield, Assistant Chief Elections Officer and Mr. Vishnu Persaud – Public Relations Officer.  The PNCR Team comprised Mr. Oscar Clarke, Ms. Amna Ally and Mr. Ernest Elliot

During the meeting, Mr. Clarke pointed out that the PNCR had been doing its share in trying to motivate persons who had not as yet uplifted their ID Cards by using the Registration Areas lists of such persons which had been prepared by GECOM and shared with the Parliamentary Political Parties.

A GECOM statement yesterday said Mr. Clarke was concerned, however, that the PNCR had not received the list of persons from the South Georgetown Registration Areas.

Acknowledging that the lists for all of the other Registration Areas had already been given to his party, he said the receipt of this outstanding list would enable the PNCR to enthuse the relevant persons to collect their ID Cards.

Further, Mr. Clarke made reference to what he called a “rumour” that GECOM intends to mail the ID Cards to the respective registrants who were yet to collect theirs, and enquired whether this would in fact be done.

Mr. Boodhoo assured the PNCR team that the list of persons from the South Georgetown Registration Areas who had not as yet uplifted their ID Cards was not given to the PNCR because it was still being prepared.

This task had been delayed because of more urgent work associated with the recently concluded Cycle of Continuous Registration.  The outstanding list should be ready by Wednesday, February 9, 2011, and would be made available to the party soon thereafter.

Dr. Surujbally made it abundantly clear that GECOM never intended to mail ID cards to registrants nor will the Commission ever go in this direction, for obvious reasons.  According to the GECOM statement, he invited Mr. Clarke to assist in dispelling the rumour.

Mr. Clarke said the PNCR was also concerned about the large number of persons who could not apply for registration, either because they were not in possession of their birth certificates or their births were never registered, hence they were never issued birth certificates.

Dr. Surujbally informed the PNCR that Team GECOM is aware that there are thousands of people who would be of voting age, but who could not apply for registration because they were/are not in possession of birth certificates, since their births were never registered.

Consequently, GECOM had raised this matter at several levels, not lastly, with the minister of Home Affairs and with the General Registrar. Further, GECOM had emphasized that the applications for birth certificates be treated with more alacrity by the General Register Office.

The objective behind this thrust was to stimulate suitable action with the result being the registration of the births of the concerned persons so that they could be issued birth certificates to be used to apply for registration. To date, the Commission’s representations have not borne the desired fruits, although almost 3 ½ years have elapsed since GECOM’s initial and repeated overtures and initiatives.

Dr. Surujbally recalled that all of the Parliamentary political parties had agreed that only original birth certificates and Valid Passports, along with supporting documents, e.g. marriage certificates, deed polls, et cetera, would be accepted as source documents for Registration.

GECOM said the objective of this agreement was to ensure that only persons who met the eligibility criteria would be registered.

The parties had agreed that baptismal certificates, expired passports, photocopies of relevant documents or letters from Priests, Elders, Head Masters, Village Captains/Toshaos and Justices of the Peace or existing ID Cards WILL NOT be acceptable as source documents for registration.

The GECOM statement said Mr. Clarke assured the Chairman that the PNCR continues to support this principle.

Both teams discussed some minor administrative hiccups which surfaced during the Continuous Registration exercise, and agreed that proactive undertakings would ensure that they do not recur.

In closing remarks, Dr. Surujbally and Mr. Clarke agreed that GECOM and the PNCR would meet more often and work collaboratively towards enhancing credibility associated with  the preparations for and the conduct of the 2011 elections.