Dear Editor
WITH the issue of the in excess of 25,000 national identification cards still not uplifted and the fact that these cards have not been claimed since 2008, certainly vindicates the government’s unswerving insistence that there be house-to-house registration for ensuring a sanitised list for credible elections.

Editor, this is a most unusual situation, given the strategic importance of having a national identification card for important transactions, in the absence of a passport. And even if in possession of the latter, it is known that virtually every Guyanese, once in possession of an ID card, would always prefer the choice for whatever business/personal matter, for fear of accidentally misplacing the very important travel document.

It is obvious that this is a most unusual situation to which Commissioner Vincent Alexander has referred, in his usual precise and unambiguous language that stated, “So, the issue is not the ID card, the issue is that these persons, since 2008 and beyond 2008 have not, in any way, presented themselves to be present; to be known; to be alive; to be existing; to be resident. And in calling them, writing to them gives us the opportunity to make a determination.”

It could not be clearer than what the commissioner’s statement is intended to convey, the inherent pertinent question – just where can these thousands of citizens be since 2008 that has prevented them from uplifting their ID cards, knowing that they are entitled to same after the last registration process in which they had participated.

The Madame Chairperson, Justice ret’d Claudette Singh is within her right to demand that these 25,000 thousand Guyanese citizens present themselves or risk being removed from the official list of electors. In fact, the question is fair to be asked – why must these people continue to exist as entries in the Official List of Electors(OLEs), once it is proven that they do not really exist, particularly if deceased? Maybe, they are dwelling beneath the labyrinth of Freedom House, or in sections of East Berbice/Corentyne. If they are, then let the Bharrat Jagdeos, Zamal Husseins et al produce their bodies, period.
Editor, what has once again raised its ugly and dishonest head, is a challenge from the usual political quarters, primed with dishonest intentions to commit fraud, by threatening court challenges to GECOM’s intended measures should the national ID card status quo remain unchanged at the end of the 21-day stipulated period.
Of course all, even those who are seeking to again heighten social tensions, would now understand –not that they did not in the first instance — why government has been insistent in its call for house-to-house registration. There can be no apology for this measure, since it stands as the only true procedure for the production of a credible official list of electors.

But having said that, one can appreciate the reason why it came to an early end so as to uphold the court’s dictum that elections be held at the earliest possible time. Thus, GECOM has been tasked with other best practices in ensuring that ghosts and phantoms be removed from a credible voters’ list; and it is imperative that this be done, given the troubling observations and occurrences, which had surrounded the polls of 2006, 2011, and 2015 – all constitutional exercises taking place under a PPP/C regime.

No national electoral body that understands its mandate of being responsible for national elections, which must be conducted from a sanitised voters’ list, for transparency of, and undisputed, results, must abdicate such a responsibility. This, without any doubt, is the continuing constitutional mission of the Madame Chairperson and GECOM.

Regards
Earl Hamilton