ADDRESS BY DR. STEVE SURUJBALLY, CHAIRMAN OF THE GUYANA ELECTIONS COMMISSION ON THE STATE OF PREPAREDNESS FOR THE GENERAL AND REGIONAL ELECTIONS - 2011
At the beginning of this year we placed our primary focus on the development of a draft Work Plan, in Microsoft Project format, for the conduct of the General and Regional Elections - 2011. This Plan was and continues to be reviewed constantly as the statutory and administrative tasks delineated therein are being carried out.
You may all recall that initially, we had planned to commence Claims and Objections in April. This was not possible because we ran into an unforeseeable impediment. A critical prerequisite task associated with this exercise was the printing of ID cards for those persons who we registered during the 2nd Cycle of Continuous Registration which we did September to December last year.
We had ordered the toner required for the printing of those ID cards from the United Kingdom to be shipped here by air. We were then informed that items such as toner could not be shipped by air because of a restriction which arose from someone in Yemen having concealed explosive material in a toner shell and tried to get this aboard an aircraft. Consequently, we had to settle to getting the toner by sea freight, the delivery schedule of which was given as 25 days. Clearly, therefore, the shifting of the commencement date for the Claims and Objections exercise was inescapable.
Claims and Objections
The Claims and Objections exercise for the 2011 elections is now over insofar as allowing persons to make claims and/or objections relative to the PLE.
I am pretty certain that some of you may want to ask questions as to whether we had considered the possibility of extending the Claims and Objections exercise. In this regard, let me state categorically that this was never our intention. Especially since such an occurrence would have upset the critical paths in our Work Plan for the holding of elections, and possibly leading to all kinds of derogatory proclamations from those who consider GECOM to be the “whipping boy”, especially since we, as a matter of policy, tend not to respond to statements to be found within the realm of politicking. One Political Party spoke of the unilateral action of GECOM. Well, we have no apology for carrying out our constitutional mandate – although it must be said that GECOM confers with Stakeholders regularly.
I must report that, at a meeting between the PNCR and GECOM which was held on Friday, June 3, 2011, this party had requested that we consider facilitating the registration of persons who might get their Birth Certificates after the close of the Claims and Objections exercise on June 12, 2011. This Party had suggested that the Commission consider so doing during the 21 days statutory period which is available for the CEO to revise the Preliminary List of Electors.
GECOM’s Legal Officer was asked to research the relevant laws to determine whether this was possible. Consequently, the Legal officer documented a Legal Brief which emphasized that new registrants cannot gain entry to the PLE during the 21 days statutory period which is available for the CEO to revise the Preliminary List of Electors based on claims and objections made during the exercise. The Legal Assistant has advised that “it may be legally improper for claims to be made after the period specified in the Order” for the conduct of the Claims and Objections exercise. Any such action could result in litigation.
At the level of the Commission, we had contemplated at our 327th Statutory Meeting, which was held on June 7, 2011, the possibility of being approached to extend the exercise. In so doing we considered the following:-
· No Political Party had asked for the Claims and Objections exercise to be extended.
· We had assisted in the distribution of Birth Certificate Application Forms in the Hinterland Communities for persons to apply for the document. In many instances our staff paid the fees associated with application for Birth Certificates from their own pockets.
· We had documented the particulars of the approximately 38,000 who could not apply for registration, because they were not in possession of source documents and shared this with the General Register Office and the Political Parties in Parliament. We had requested of them that they take all possible action towards ensuring that the concerned persons could apply for registration.
· We had sought and participated at meetings involving key stakeholders including the Registrar General, to place emphasis on the need for the situation to be addressed. The Registrar General had been adamant (and we have since been convinced) that her Office was treating efficiently with applications for registration, but that Birth Certificates cannot be issued to persons whose births were not registered, nor can Birth Certificates be issued to persons who have not applied.
· The Registrar General had given the assurance that the GRO was working beyond the normal call of duty to treat with applications for Birth Certificates that were in its possession. The Registrar General was equally adamant that there was no backlog in the processing of applications for Birth Certificates.
· We had emphasized since before the implementation of Continuous Registration in 2005, and prior to and during every subsequent registration exercise that all persons were eligible for registration then and now, but who are not in possession of the relevant supporting document(s), must take immediate steps to acquire the said documents in order for them to apply for registration. We have been pleading for the persons to get their source documents for almost six years now.
· During the Claims and Objections Exercise for Local Government Elections – 2010, the 2nd Cycle of Continuous Registration – 2010, and this Claims and Objections exercise, we have registered approximately 80,000 persons i.e. more that double the approximately 38,000 persons in question. This helps to substantiate the position taken by the Registrar General.
The reasons for this high number of registration would inter alia be:
i. There are those persons who would not have been 14 years old by June 30, 2008, to become registered during the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise, but who would have met the requirement of being 14 years old or over by March 31, 2011 – this being the qualifying date for registration during the 2nd Cycle of Continuous Registration which was conducted during September-December last year. This represents a gap of almost two years during which persons would have reached or gone past the 14 years old requirement for registration.
ii. There are also, those persons with whom we might not have come into contact with during the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise because the nature of their employment take them far away from their permanent places of residence.
The Commission concluded and agreed that, regardless of the cut off point, there would always be persons without source documents. Nonetheless, we agreed that all of the Claims and Objections Offices could remain open until midnight of Thursday, June 9, 2011, to extend the opportunity to persons, who would have received their Birth Certificates on this day, to apply for registration.
I have reported that from the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise that we had documented that approximately 38,000 who persons could not apply for registration because they were not in possession of source documents. This number included persons who would have been 14 years old or over at the time.
Let me emphasize that the evidence before us now is that our efforts have borne a significant amount of fruit as the following figures would show.
During the Claims and Objections Exercise for Local Government Elections – 2010, we registered 18,047 persons who would have been 18 years old or over.
During the 2nd Cycle of Continuous Registration – 2010, we registered 45,554 persons including persons in the 14-18 years group.
During the just concluded Claims and Objections exercise, we have already registered over 16,000 persons who would be 18 years old or over by September 30, 2011.
An analysis of these figures is indicative that we may have captured most of the 38,000 persons in question. Mind you, this must not be interpreted as a GECOM position that there are many persons out there without source documents. We are very much aware of the category of persons without Birth Certificates because their births were never registered. However, no one can disagree that there is not much that GECOM can do to alleviate this problem. In fact, we were told unambiguously that this is not our mandate.
In view of the foregoing, the Commission concluded and agreed unanimously that an extension of the period for Claims and Objections was not warranted and that this would not be done.
Having now concluded the Claims and Objections exercise, I can report that we have received approximately 16,573applications for new registration, 2,137 for transfers, 5,137 for name changes/corrections, and approximately 866 objections have been lodged. The applications for new Registration, change/corrections and transfers are currently being processed by our Registration Division, while hearings are currently being conducted with respect to the objections at the level of the Registration Officer.
We are in the process of preparing the fingerprints of the applicants for registration to be sent overseas to be cross matched with those of the registrants currently listed in the NRR to check for multiple registrations. Any multiple found will be treated with in keeping with the relevant procedure developed specifically for this purpose.
All of the approved new registrants would be added to the PLE to create the Revised List of Electors (RLE) and leading to the production of ID cards respectively. The finalization of the RLE, which is subject to interventions which the Chief Election Officer, would become the indisputable OLE as is our primary focus at this time.
Meanwhile the Commission’s attention will continue to focus on several key activities including.
· Training and hiring of Polling Day staff.
· Identification of Polling Stations.
· Finalizing our logistics plan for the elections
· Procurement of sensitive and non-sensitive elections materials.
· Production of a Manual of Instructions for Election Day Staff.
· Security matters.
The time is fast approaching when we will inform President Bharrat Jagdeo that we have reached the state of complete readiness, and that he may set the date for the elections – that being his constitutional responsibility. According to our current plans, and barring the emergence of any unforeseeable impediment, we would be ready for the holding of the elections in mid-October.
Having reported on our state of preparedness for the upcoming elections, it is essential that I now report on other pertinent matters.
Distribution of National Identification Cards
As you might all be aware, we had in our possession, as at the end of 2010, in excess of 70,000 ID cards produced for registrants captured during the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise and the Claims and Objections Exercise for Local Government Elections, notwithstanding our public pleadings for persons to uplift their cards.
We had tried to woo the support of the Political parties in Parliament for them to enthuse their constituents to uplift cards.
We went as far as dispatching registered mails – at significant cost, I daresay, encouraging every registrant who had not uplifted his/her ID card to so do.
The statistics reveal that as at June 11. 2011, we still have in our possession 29,570 ID cards produced from the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise, 1,613 from the Claims and Objections Exercise for Local Government Elections, 9,946 from the 2nd Cycle of Continuous Registration, and 2,058 cards prepared as a result of applications for corrections/changes and replacements. This represents a total of 43,187 ID cards still in our possession as at June 11. 2011.
We had been distributing ID cards from all of our Permanent and Temporary Registration Offices across Guyana during the Claims and Objections exercise. This wide distribution network will remain in place until the end of this month at which time the Temporary Offices will be closed, the exercise having been concluded. Thereafter, persons will be required to visit the respective Permanent Registration Offices (27 nation wide) to uplift their cards which we will continue to distribute during official working hours.
Being cognizant that registrants who live in far flung communities in Districts 1, 7, 8 & 9 do not have the wherewithal to visit the respective Registration Offices, the Commission gave approval for the conduct of a special exercise to distribute ID cards in those areas through the use of Mobile Distribution Teams including Scrutineers.
This leads me to a separate, though intrinsically linked matter, i.e. the decommissioning of “old” ID cards.
Decommissioning of “Old” National Identification Cards
GECOM will decommission all ID cards (“red” and “green”) that were issued prior to the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise. The decommissioning of the “red” and “green” ID Cards means that these cards will no longer be valid. This will mean that those persons who have not uplifted their ID cards, and those who are not now registered, would be without a valid means of identification.