Reviewing the shortlists and possibly interviewing the applicants for the remaining positions that have to be filled in the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to commence when the Commission meets again next week.
GECOM held its first statutory meeting for the year on Tuesday, where old minutes and Chief Election Officer (CEO) Vishnu Persaud’s first report was discussed. There is also the matter of filling the remaining vacancies in the Secretariat, including the Deputy CEO position.
In an interview with this publication after the meeting, GECOM Commissioner Bibi Shadick explained that the process for interviewing will start next week. She noted that they would have a look at all the shortlisted names and begin the process of arranging interviews.
“Looking at all the shortlisted, we’re going to go ahead with interviewing as we go along. We’re going to go through all the shortlists that we have and like we did with the CEO, we’ll be further able to resolve (the appointments),” the Commissioner said.
When it comes to preparations for LGE, Shadick noted that the Commission has not started detailed discussions on this. However, she noted that the CEO report does reference the holding of LGE and the process involved.
“We were looking at the CEO report. But of course, the bogeyman of House-to-House Registration seems to be coming up. And so, we’re going to deal with it and so on. But the CEO does have in his report anticipation that we have to prepare for it. But no specific decisions on that as yet,” Shadick said.
Besides the DCEO position, GECOM also has to fill several other key senior positions within the Elections Secretariat. These positions include Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Assistant Chief Elections Officer, Chief Accountant, Legal Officer, Logistics Officer, and Civic and Voter Education Manager.
In November of last year, four persons were shortlisted by GECOM to be interviewed for the position of Deputy CEO. They were Melanie Marshall, Neil Bacchus, Mohamed Arjoon and Deodat Persaud.
Meanwhile, shortlisted for the position of Assistant Chief Elections Officer had included Personal Assistant to former CEO Keith Lowenfield, Duarte Hetsberger. Also shortlisted were Delon Clarke, Noland Jervis, Melanie Marshall, Paul Jaisingh, Mohamed Arjoon, Neil Bacchus, Deolall Ramlall, Deodat Persaud, Natasha Grenion Dipchand, Andrea Sparman, and Colin April.
The persons who are eventually hired will fill the vacancies that occurred around the same time as the removals of former Chief Elections Officer Lowenfield; his former Deputy Roxanne Myers and former Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
After several delays and legal proceedings, Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo were on August 12, 2021, dismissed from their respective posts at the GECOM following a vote by the seven-member Commission.
Government-nominated GECOM Commissioners Shadick, Sase Gunraj and Manoj Narayan, on June 1, 2021, had brought motions calling for the dismissal of Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo from GECOM.
The trio are before the courts for a number of electoral charges for their alleged attempts to sway the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then ruling A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
In December, Vishnu Persaud, who has 17 years of experience working at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), was elected the new Chief Elections Officer (CEO) following a competitive process which saw some 20 other candidates, including locals and foreigners, vying for the top position.
The race had come down to Persaud, a former Deputy CEO, and Jamaican Leslie Harrow – both of whom were interviewed by the seven-member Election Commission.
Back in December when the Commission met to discuss and vote on who is the most qualified candidate for the job, its members were trapped in a deadlock as they were equally divided between the two frontrunners.
This prompted GECOM’s Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh, to flex her casting vote in favour of Persaud, whom she has since hailed as the most qualified for the job.
In an official statement, GECOM said it is hopeful that with his extensive experience in the agency, Persaud will execute the functions of the office of CEO and Commissioner of Registration within the confines of the law and deliver with excellence.
