GECOM Chairman choosing compromise over the law
What has emanated from the NoConfidence Motion is a narrative of malign and benign. In the former case, the APNU+AFC government has refused to follow the basic constitutional mandates of resigning and facing general elections while in the latter case, the opposition has applied every conceivable option to have the government respect the rulings of the courts. There is an added poignancy, however. Public curiosity has been high regarding which lane on the forked road the Chairperson Claudette Singh of GECOM would embrace, one that embarks on the picturesque excrescences of compromise or applying the law? Unfortunately, she has become the latest victim of circumstances choosing compromise over competence, and in so doing, has catacombed GECOM and Guyana into another round of ambiguity. Firstly, why would she recommend the merging of a recent incomplete flawed house-to-house registration list with the existing one, and secondly, why would she recommend the continuation of house-to-house registration for one more week rather than stopping it immediately? These are bizarre decisions since they are not in concert with the law or rational.
The aforesaid rulings have revealed her mindset mirroring a dilettante. She does not seem to be an independent thinker. She appears to rely on an in-between approach in Guyana’s most polarized institution, GECOM, leaving large sections of the population fractious and peeved.
Amidst this in-between approach, the caretaker regime has recognized one consistent weakness, that is, the ambiguous rulings of the courts and has used this loophole effectively to hold on to power. The regime is obsessed with this so-called breaking of “fresh grounds.” Subsequently, the constitution and courts have become overburdened by frivolous cases. By the way of reasoning, if the regime has refused to accept the no-confidence motion, has refused to accept 33 is the majority of 65, has refused to resign, and has refused to accept the existing voters list, then why in the world would it accept an unfavourable general election result? The regime would challenge any unfavourable results, which invariably means, that the current GECOM Chairperson would have to make a vital decision. Ironically, the APNU+AFC caretaker regime is not credible but it wants credible actions and results from every nook and cranny.
Yours faithfully, Lomarsh Roopnarine