There is a lot of talk about electoral reform. There are proposals that make for interesting reading. One proposal is that there must be jail time and hefty fines for anyone attempting to railroad the electoral process.
This is a most interesting proposal. It appears to stem from what the People’s Progressive Party said happened in the wake of the 2020 elections. The offshoot is that a number of the staff of the Guyana Elections Commission are before the courts on numerous charges.
Some of these charges contend that these people conducted themselves to warrant charges of malfeasance in public office. These charges began as private criminal charges. Then they became charges brought by the state.
The Director of Public Prosecutions stepped in when those bringing the private criminal charges failed to provide the evidence to support the charges. Needless to say, when these people appeared in court on the private criminal charges they were placed on substantial bail. Some of them were detained and placed in the lockups.
The principle of innocent until proven guilty was thrown out the window. Clairmont Mingo, a senior citizen, was locked up for days. It was the same with Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Myers.
The DPP stepped in with the same charges and these people were required to post bail. They were answering to the same charges twice.
Somebody must have come to the realization that these people were facing the same charges twice. The DPP later withdrew the private criminal charges.
As things stand, there are reports of boxes of evidence purporting to be represented by Statements of Poll and Statements of Recount. There was also an interesting aspect of the charges. They were all indictable and therefore should attract the attention of the High Court.
Then came a move to have the matters tried summarily—to be determined by a magistrate. Roxanne Myers insisted and won the right to an indictable trial. Some people were not happy. I have not heard about the decision being challenged by way of an appeal.
At the rate things are going, only heaven knows when the trials would begin. Surely, for such an important matter the courts could move faster. The nation waits.
Meanwhile, those charged remain out-of-pocket. Combined, they have had to lodge millions of dollars as bail. One can imagine being unemployed, in need of an income and having a sizeable portion of what they could be spending being tied up in court interminably.
What is interesting about matters going before the court is the extent of the investigation by the police and the requisite action. A number of people await the completion of the investigation by the police.
There was the case of the Region Nine official who shot a woman. He was never charged.
There were reports of police ranks approaching the woman as intermediaries. That is now a dead issue. The other issue involved the shooting to death of Essequibo businessman, Orin Boston. The police were said to be looking for illegal weapons and other substances.
They reportedly kicked in his door and killed him. The initial report was that Boston reached for a weapon although none was found.
The police claimed that the matter is one for the Police Complaints Authority. Two months have passed and there is no further word on the investigation. Is the policeman still under close arrest?
A third incident involves a woman who was the Permanent Secretary in the Amerindian Affairs Ministry. That matter, according to reports, has been sent to the DPP. There has been no further word after more than a month.
The signal is that charges are not mandatory if one is closely affiliated to the ruling party.
Now there is another proposal. From the time Guyana adopted the electoral system of Proportional Representation Region Four has always been a stronghold of the People’s National Congress. This proposal seeks to have Region Four broken up into two voting blocks.
I have seen talk about the PPP seeking to gerrymander the boundaries of Region Four to highlight those areas controlled by the PPP.
If the system of Proportional Representation remains, then the total votes would not be changed. What may change is the number of regional seats. This would have an impact on the number of seats coming from the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs and consequently the number of seats to the PPP in the National Assembly.
If a simple majority in the National Assembly is needed for this alignment of the boundaries in Region Four, then the PPP would have its way. These are interesting times. It goes to show that the PPP is planning ahead to consolidate its hold on government.
So far, there is what is said to be a case of having these proposals go to all parties. Then the ruling party would accept those of the recommendations that come from those consulted.
I am not au fait with the laws governing shifting the electoral boundaries. I know that it was done in Trinidad. Perhaps Guyana is bent on going in that direction.
Whoever is the Chief Elections Officer would present the results. I still remember a former Chief Elections Officer, Gocool Boodoo, doing just that and when challenged advised the challenger to go by way of an election petition. Until then, his decision stands.
He is once more vying to become the Chief Elections Officer. He was removed by a vote in the Guyana Elections Commission with the then Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, casting the deciding vote. Soon after, as a sign of his neutrality, he was employed by Office of the President during the Donald Ramotar presidency.
