RESTAURANT
STORM: Muslim protesters outside the `restaurant’ (in
background) yesterday. (Delano Williams photo)
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A
STORM is brewing in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan over
today’s scheduled opening of a ‘restaurant’ directly
across the street from a mosque on the West Demerara |
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FIRM
STAND: GECOM Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally. (Winston Oudkerk photo)
GUYANA
Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally yesterday
said his job is to solve technical and not “political” problems
as he lashed out at those who criticise planning for and management
of the forthcoming general elections.
Under
fire on Thursday from Opposition and People’s National Congress
Reform (PNCR) Leader Robert Corbin on preparations for the
elections, he declared that he would not be frustrated or
“maligned” out of office.
Dr.
Surujbally also called on Georgetown businessmen at the luncheon he
addressed yesterday to use whatever influence they might have to
urge their political parties to quit “beating” on him,
emphasizing that there must be some “decorum” for the 2006
elections.
A
veterinary doctor, Dr. Surujbally quipped that being at the helm of
the elections body means he is dealing with a different “animal”
altogether, but indicated he was not opposed to any feasible demand
by political parties to hold elections that will be acceptable to
all.
He
struck his firm stand as the feature speaker at a business luncheon
of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) at Le
Meridien Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown.
Surujbally
said house to house verification will “historically” begin on
Monday at 23 centres across the country “in spite of all that has
been said, and all the barriers and all those who wanted to stymie
this.”
Prepared
for criticism that this might be inadequate, he said mobile units
will be operational to meet persons in far flung communities, and
further, if more centres are needed these would be set up.
Continuous
registration, to sanitize the 2001 Official List of Electors (OLE),
will be implemented with initial focus being placed on capturing new
registrants and transferees, he told the business gathering.
To
sanitize the list as well, some 17,000 names of deceased persons
will have to be purged from the 2001 OLE, and this information,
Surujbally said, has been provided by the General Registrars Office.
On
the taking of live scan fingerprints from registrants during the
process of continuous registration, which opposition parties have
trumped up as being a method of preventing multiple registrations,
he said his commission would be willing to implement the system if
it is feasible to do so. GECOM would have to take into account
factors such as cost and efficiency and providing that it would not
disrupt the timelines the commission has set to meet its critical
tasks, he said.
Mr.
Corbin on Thursday accused GECOM of attempting to commence the
process for the elections without the constitutionally required
“minimum acceptable standards”.
He
said a meeting Wednesday between the Parliamentary opposition
parties and the commission, which lasted some four hours, served to
confirm his party’s “worst fears” that it had not taken
seriously, the contributions and submissions by the opposition
parties over the last two years.
In
spite of this, Corbin charged that the commission was still
attempting to commence the electoral process and accused the
commission of “blatant disrespect”.
“This
is unacceptable and the PNCR and other parties will shortly inform
the nation of their position in relation to these dangerous
developments that will jeopardize the holding of free, fair and
transparent elections,” Corbin declared at his party’s weekly
news conference at Congress Place, Sophia, Georgetown.
URGENT CONSULTATIONS PLAN
It is evident, he argued, that GECOM and Surujbally in
particular, seem bent on meeting some deadline at the expense of
proper and thorough preparations for the elections.
He
said his party has commenced “urgent consultations with its
membership throughout Guyana and will shortly announce its proposed
action in the face of the blatant disrespect with which GECOM has
treated the detailed suggestions proposed by the Opposition
parliamentary parties…”
Surujbally
seemed not too disturbed by complaints about multiple registrations,
noting that at the last elections only 50 names out of the entire
list of electors were taken to the Police as being cases of multiple
registrations.
He
said multiple registrations take place because people want to vote
more than once, but the ink used to stain the fingers of those who
vote once is an almost sure guarantee that they cannot vote again.
The
commission chairman invited business organizations in the country to
apply to GECOM to be accredited as observers for the 2006 elections
and he assured them that “every bit” of information that will be
provided to stakeholders will be given to them.
Surujbally
lashed out at those who claim, falsely, that he is not focused on
running the elections because he is building a house on Trinidad’s
sister island Tobago, among other “lies.”
Contrary
to assertions that his commission has not established procedures to
run the elections, he said the staff of his secretariat has
developed a comprehensive elections project plan for the
preparations for and administration of the elections, which are
constitutionally due by August 4, 2006.
He
said the plan has now been put in Microsoft Project format, with
assistance from an overseas-based IBM Consultant, with a view to
establishing clear guidance in terms of critical tasks, timelines
and resource (human/material/financial) requirements.
While
the commission would be guided by the elections project plan in the
preparations for and administration of the upcoming elections, he
said this was not cast in stone and has some degree of elasticity to
allow nothing to prevent the holding of elections in a manner that
will be commonly accepted as being free, fair and transparent.
Surujbally
said the government has assured that it would fast track the
availability of resources to the commission when such requests are
made.
He
said he found it reprehensible that funding for local elections has
to be sought from international donors, but nevertheless thanked
them for their support.
Meanwhile,
President of the GCCI Gerry Gouveia called on the Guyana Police
Force to crush the crime wave before the onset of the 2006
elections.
He
said crime is one of the most important barriers to business
development and the GCCI was disappointed that the Police Force has
not yet established a special highly trained crime “crack” force
to respond swiftly to deadly force by criminals against individuals
and businessmen alike.
Given
the tension that engulfs the country and primarily Georgetown after
elections day, one businessman suggested that this occurs because of
the inordinately long time the commission takes to release results.
Surujbally
said a methodology for the early release of elections results was
developed with the help of the United Nations Development Programme
and GECOM is examining this.
