The Week-in-Review - February 23 to February 29

Elections

Parties sign conduct code one day before campaigning ends: Nine of the 11 political parties contesting Monday’s general and regional elections have signed on to a Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Code of Conduct. The code, according to GECOM Chair retired Justice Claudette Singh, will not only guide action on the one remaining day of the campaign but will also relate to behaviour on Election Day and the days following until the announcement of official results. President David Granger, who signed on behalf of the APNU+AFC coalition, commended the commission on crafting the code and committed the coalition to abiding by its terms, while PPP/C presidential candidate Irfaan Ali similarly committed his party to the “values of the code.” Representative for A New and United Guyana (ANUG) Jonathan Yearwood, while welcoming the code as very important, lamented that it was “extremely late in the game.” “This should have been done probably two months ago…we knew elections were coming, everyone knew elections were coming, so this should’ve been done much earlier so that parties would’ve been abiding by it. As it [is], supporters of all political parties have been slinging mud left, right and centre and nobody has been checking them. Maybe if this had been out a lot earlier, it could’ve had an effect,” he said. The code has been signed by ANUG, the APNU+AFC, Change Guyana, the Liberty and Justice Party, the PPP/C, the People’s Republican Party, the Citizenship Initiative, the New Movement and the United Republican Party. The Federal United Party and Organisation for the Victory of the People, were not present because of late notice provided by GECOM.

GECOM agrees to more polling places: Following mounting pressure and a meeting last Tuesday with the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has agreed to increase the number of polling places in several areas for Monday’s general elections. “The request for additional polling places has been acquiesced to,” opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj told reporters outside GECOM’s headquarters. Gunraj explained that additional polling places will be established at Mon Repos though it has not been determined if these places will be private residences or, if necessary, tents. The PPP has repeatedly argued that GECOM’s decision to place 18 polling stations in one polling place, the school compound, was likely to result in congestion and possible disenfranchisement of voters.

PPP writes GECOM over Ferguson house lots promises to joint services voters: The opposition PPP has written the Guyana Elections Commission over allegations of inducement by Minister of Communities Annette Ferguson, who it said on the eve of voting by the disciplined services held a secret meeting with some members where she promised house lots if they voted her government back into office. “All I want you to understand is that the prospects for the housing sector will be great when we return to government. But the only way you will be able to benefit, whether your application is in 2010 when we weren’t there or 2011 when we weren’t there…is that you have to ensure that we return to government,” Ferguson could be heard saying, in an audio recording that was released by the opposition party. “So tomorrow I know many of you got a date, a special date. It is whether we go forward or we go backwards. All I want say to y’all is don’t stop de progress,” she added. It appears that she was speaking to a group from the Guyana Police Force during a closed door meeting as she requested that all phones be turned off before the meeting commenced. “No cellphones allowed. Please turn off your cellphones. All of them quickly…,” a female’s voice is heard telling persons.

Ruel Johnson lashes out at gov’t, opposition hypocrisy on decriminalising gay sex: The Citizenship Initiative’s (TCI) Ruel Johnson last Monday lashed out at hypocrisy in the political directorate on the question of decriminalising gay sex. He was speaking at a forum at the Georgetown Club addressing issues in the LGBT community to which political parties contesting the March 2nd general elections were invited. He and other representatives of the parties were responding to a question on whether they have a specific plan to repeal Section 353 of the Criminal Law Offences Act or if they plan to champion the issue on the inside or outside of parliament. The question was asked by President of the Guyana Press Association Nazima Raghubir, who was at the time co-moderating the forum, which was organised by the Society Against sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD). Johnson noted that the fact that the act remains a criminal offence is hypocrisy since past and present political administrations have members who are engaged in same sex intimacy. “There is hypocrisy in keeping this law in place and that goes to the heart of political parties who had members and currently have members who are engaging in same sex [relations] but for whatever [reason] would not repeal the act,” Johnson argued. was found on Thursday morning a short distance away from his house, from where a safe was stolen. Lomenzo Johnny, also known as ‘Sham,’ 49, of Lot 11 East Side Line Dam, Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, was found about 300 meters away from his home around 7 am yesterday inside the ‘Shavey Farm’ located at the rear of the JC Chandisingh Secondary School. He appeared to have been beaten and his feet were tied together. The discovery was made by the farm’s workers.