It is for GECOM to resolve irregularities in observation reports

Dear Editor,

I write with reference to the Kaieteur News article of May 24th captioned, `It’s court’s jurisdiction to probe election irregularities, not GECOM – Nandlall’.

I respectfully contend that it is for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to resolve the irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies contained in the Observations Reports.

Paragraph 16 of GECOM’s Order provides that the recitals shall form part of the Order.

The last recital of the Order provides that the conduct of the recount process is for the purpose of “…the reconciliation of the ballots issued with the ballots cast, destroyed, spoiled, stamped, and as deemed necessary, their counterfoils/ stubs; authenticity of the ballots and the number of voters listed and crossed out as having voted; the number of votes cast without ID cards; the number of proxies issued and the number utilized; statistical anomalies; occurrences recorded in the Poll Book”.

These provisions are empowering GECOM to not only count the ballots but also to examine irregularities, discrepancies and anomalies in order to make a determination of the credibility or lack thereof, of the recount process.

Further, paragraph 6 of the Order provides for the use of the Observations Report Form (ORFs) to record any observation outside of the ballot box checklist; and under paragraph 12 the Chief Election Officer (CEO) after tabulating the matrices of all electoral districts submits a report which includes the ORFs and the matrices of the ballot count for each district to the Commission.

This shows a clear dichotomy between the ballot count and observations made during the recount process, confirming that it is not about the ballot count alone.

Additionally, paragraph 14 of the Order makes it pellucid that it is for the Commission to resolve any irregularity, discrepancy and anomaly occurring in the recount process as revealed in the report.

According to paragraph 1 (b) of the Order, the role of the Commission is to serve as the final arbiter of issues not resolved at the lower levels in the established procedure; and paragraph 1 (f) provides it shall determine and declare the final results of the Regional and General Elections 2020.

What is evinced upon a proper apprehension of the provisions in the

appointment was not approved by either the HR Committee or board in advance of a contract being offered. The CWI contract was worth US$280,000 for a two year-period,” the ESPNcricinfo report stated.

The PKF report also revealed that India’s Cricket Board had made a donation of US$500,000.00 to be distributed to past players which was never done. Then there is the issue of the US$50,000.00 bonus paid to Cameron.

"At a directors meeting dated March 10th 2018 (as CWI moved towards a cash flow deficiency of $21m)," the report states, "a resolution was passed authorising an honorarium of $50,000 for the then President for having "worked beyond the call of duty" to get the ICC to allocate the $128m to CWI. This honorarium was paid in two payments of $25,000 on 5th June 2018 and 31st July 2019.” Worked beyond the call of duty? What did Cameron do? Go on a hunger strike for one month outside the ICC Headquarters? This bonus is utter nonsense, to say the least.

While CWI President, Dave Cameron had fought tooth and nail to resist attempts by the Caricom Heads of Government to enforce the Barriteau Report which had stated, “It is now past the time to accept that the current government structures [of the WICBC] are obsolete.” The report had suggested that the members of the current board resign and the board be dissolved and a “new governance framework” be installed. The members of the Dave Cameron-led board of course had steadfastly refused to comply with the recommendations, even labelling the dissolution call as “an unnecessary and intrusive demand.”

As is to be expected, Cameron, who served as president from March 2013 to March 2019, has dug in his heels. He believes that the current administration is “bent on covering their incompetence and failure to deliver …by desperately trying to shift focus to me with baseless accusations.”

Last week Cameron demanded that a copy of the report, which is obviously very critical of his tenure, be handed over within 48 hours, so he can

Order for this special recount process is that GECOM exercises jurisdiction over it.

Therefore, it is an erroneous statement by Nandlall when he asserted, “They would be violating the very order GECOM published and took to be governed by to conduct the recount”.

Moreover, GECOM is well equipped in that its Chairman is eminently qualified to adjudicate in these matters. She could use her wealth of experience in determining issues of credibility by assessing weight, veracity and consistency of any evidence before the Commission and can call on the General Register Office for births and deaths records and the Immigration Department for immigration records to assist in the discharge of the Commission’s responsibilities under the rules in the Order governing the recount process.

The Chairman is well qualified within the characteristics outlined by His Excellency President David Granger in his letter dated 2017.03.14 to the Leader of the Opposition that the Chairman should satisfy certain characteristics including, “That person is deemed to have wide electoral knowledge, capable of handling electoral matters

defend the recent allegations made against him. Cameron also opted to take the Mulroney defence option and threatened to sue the CWI. (Brian Mulroney, a former Canadian Prime Minister, had launched a CAN $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Canadian Government, after the RCMP had accused Mulroney of accepting kickbacks for the sale of Airbus planes to Air Canada). The timeline has passed without Cameron’s demands being met.

Cameron’s lawyer, Tony Astaphan, has already started performing the legal gymnastics to divert attention away from his client. Appearing on the Mason and Guest radio talk show in Barbados, Astaphan noted that the structure of the CWI remains a board of directors and all decisions were taken and approved at that level.

“If the auditor is in fact making so-called findings on matters that were dealt with by the board and they are so concerned about irregularities and abuses; the directors, including the present ones, from top to bottom, are going to have to come forward and explain their votes to the region and the shareholders,” Astaphan was quoted as saying.

The tip of the iceberg has been revealed and long suffering West Indies cricket fans are starting to ask questions to which they need answers. The players are still owed fees for the January home series versus Ireland and the away tour of Sri Lanka in February and March. CWI is in deep financial trouble.

If this is a basic audit, what will a forensic one reveal? The cat is out of the bag CWI. It is time to release the PKF report and let the fans know the truth.

because he or she is qualified to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in civil matters; that person will discharge his or her functions without fear or favour, that is he or she will not allow any person or organization to influence him or her to compromise his or her neutrality and that person will discharge his or her functions neutrally, between the two opposing parties, as he or she would have done in Court between two opposing litigants”.

The Chairman of GECOM would be familiar with the time hallowed common law principle that evidence is admissible once relevant irrespective of how it was obtained.

In conclusion once GECOM is acting in consonance with the foregoing provisions of its gazetted order, Nandlall’s contention that it is “now expanding the scope of this recounting exercise far outside its parameters and that it is wrong; it is unlawful”, must be rejected.

Yours faithfully,

Basil Williams SC

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs