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Family’s P
Family’s Attorney seeks answers from Registrar General on release of death certificate
The Attorney representing the family of Chitnandani Ramdass, the deceased Essequibian woman, who the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) claimed “vot
The document obtained by APNU/AFC
An original death certificate issued by GPOC
ed” in the March 2 polls, has written to Registrar General Louis Crawford, requesting key information in relation to the release of the woman’s death certificate.
In his letter on behalf of Puran Manbode, the dead woman’s son, Attorney Glenn Hanoman has asked the Registrar General of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) to: provide copies of the application form requesting the death certificate, information on the identity of the person/s who requested the death certificate and copies of the payment of the $300 fee for the document.
During the course of the now three weeks-long recount, agents for the coalition have repeatedly raised objections to votes cast on the basis that the persons in question were either dead or have migrated.
These claims have since been debunked by the majority of political stakeholders.
The coalition came under severe fire recently for what many say is an abuse of State power – accessing persons’ confidential information in relation to migration and
death records.
Defending the coalition’s access to the death records, caretaker Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes had told media operatives that the persons were identified by the grouping through its fieldwork and that the certificates were later applied for and the $300 fee paid.
An article was subsequently published in the State media on May 20, which identified the late Ms Ramdass as having “voted”.
The coalition’s claims only ended when information came to light that the individual’s name had not, in fact, been ticked off as having been issued a ballot.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall has since been in contact with the family, who supplied him with a copy of the woman’s original death certificate.
That document juxtaposed against the one published by the State media, and held up as proof by the coalition, revealed that the published document was issued on January 31 of this year.
Notably, it does not bear the identification number for the dead woman while the original certificate supplied by the family does bear the name.
Nandlall was adamant that the records in question could only be accessed by family members and that this authorisation had not been provided.
Hanoman’s letter also outlined: “Pursuant to sub-section 33 (1) and 33 (5) of the Access to Information Act, 2011, documents are exempt from disclosure if its disclosure would involve the unreasonable disclosure of information in relation to the personal affairs of a deceased person. In the case of a deceased person, the next-of-kin is the person entitled to give consent to the disclosure of the document”.
According to Nandlall, the APNU/AFC, in addition to possibly breaching the Access to Information law, could very well be guilty of a range of other electoral-related legal infractions.
What happens...
…after the recount?
On the premise that “time is longer than twine”, your Eyewitness figures there will have to be an end to this recount; but it’ll definitely be later, rather than sooner! Even though we’re lurching dangerously towards that cliff where “no man’s land” begins, it does look like GECOM - meaning Chairman Claudette - might be tacking on another 16 days to her arbitrary 25-day deadline to complete the recount. So, no matter how you slice it, dice it, or purée it, we’re gonna be right back where it all began: waiting for the Reg 4 numbers to be completed, since Madame Chair has stuck doggedly to deploying teams who’ve completed the smaller Regions other than Reg 4. So, can we expect some sort of Deus ex machina effect like the one Mingo pulled at Ashmin’s? Deja vu all over again? You know, like putting in a thumb and pulling out a plum. Nah…there won’t be any need for that, cause the stage has already been set to ensure we don’t get that result for a very, very long time! After all, when you have some 450,000 persons voting and the PNC claims - through the peripatetic Lt Col (ex) Joe Harmon - that they have unearthed 86,000 instances of “anomalies” in the ballot boxes, you know that “things na regula”! And many of them were literally “unearthed”, since they claim may dead persons voted!
Now, dear reader, you might be saying that since the Chair has already said that “he who asserts must prove”, the PNC have their work cut out for them. But that just means you haven’t been paying attention!! After stoutly insisting they have all the proof of their assertions about migrants and the dead voting, as well as the disenfranchisement of all 8000 Disciplined Forces members who voted - and who’re all staunch PNC supporters, according to the good ex-Lt Col - PNC executive Aubrey Norton just stepped up to the crease to declare it’s the responsibility of GECOM to check out these claims.
And if we are to go by the history of Chairman Claudette, you know there’s never been a demand by the PNC when she doesn’t bend backwards to accommodate them. You’d think she was a limbo dancer in her earlier life, rather than a member of the Bench!! Remember H2H?? No need for it, but let’s MERGE the data so that the PNC get what they wanted!! Mingo’s declaration is illegal since she twice flouted the High Court’s instruction to show the SOPs?? Let’s hold his declaration IN ABEYANCE!
So, your Eyewitness is willing to bet dollars to donuts that Chairman Claudette will cut the baby in half once again!!
…to reason?
Your Eyewitness never fails to be shocked - not at how supposedly rational human beings would allow their reason to flee when their interests are affected - but at how they’ll try to justify their irrational reactions with “reason”!! Let’s take another look at what’s playing out in the political arena. And no…it’s not the rigging of the elections in front of everyone’s noses using the Mingo Manoeuvre; it’s really about getting our electoral system right!! We ought to be grateful to the PNC for sacrificing themselves to this most worthwhile cause - for the nation!!
Never mind that the PNC won the 2015 elections with the same system, the same list, the same GECOM staff etc. All those things are horribly and irretrievably corrupted by the PPP, who’ve gamed the system so that they’ll always win, regardless. The system is unfair to the PNC; the list is “bloated”; the GECOM staff are corrupted etc.
So how come the PPP still lost in 2015??
Go to the back of the class!! You don’t understand the enigma of irrational reasoning!!
…When the money runs out?
Granger has just made a stirring appeal for some money to be thrown our way, so his Government can “fight COVID”. Finishing Ocean View Hotel?
But what about our “sovereignty”??
The national recount of votes cast in the March 2 polls and a final declaration of the results can be done by June 11, 2020.
This is the view expressed by People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali, who on Thursday, during a virtual presentation, detailed that the target could be met using the “minimal average of what is currently being achieved” in relation to the ongoing recount at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is expected to make crucial decisions soon as it relates to the completion of the electoral process, more particularly, the end-date for the recount of ballots and the declaration of the final results.
At the moment, sources have indicated that there is a June 16th timeline that is being floated for the completion of the recount and a declaration of the results, but Ali is adamant that “this timeframe is too long” and could be “cut short” considering the fact that it is close to three months now since Guyanese went to the polls.
Ali explained that the June 16 deadline floating around would mean that GECOM would be given a whopping 20 additional days to complete the recount exercise and make a declaration.
“This is puzzling; it is our view that this timeframe is too long,” Ali said.
“If we continue to do an average of 80 boxes per day, then it would take us 12 days to complete this exercise,” Ali said.
“So, if we take 12 days to complete the recount, why GECOM needs eight more days to have a declaration?” Ali questioned.
He explained that 12 days for the completion of the recount and an additional three days for preparation of the necessary reports and official declarations would add up to 15 days – taking the process to finality on June 11.
Meanwhile, Ali once again lamented the fact that Region Four, which has 57 per cent of the remaining ballot boxes to be recounted, is being starved of resources to get the task done. He related that this concern was raised with the Commission and the Party was hoping that a solution would be found soon.
As of Thursday, the recount had been completed for Regions One, Two, Three, Five and Seven. The outstanding regions are Four, Six, Eight, Nine and 10, which got underway on Thursday. Recount and final declaration could be completed by June 11 – Ali
PPP/C’s Presidential Candidate, Dr Irfaan Ali
9FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM NEWS State blanks GECOM’s bid to accelerate recount
The Moses Nagamootoo-led National Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force has refused permission to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to house two additional counting stations at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC) in a bid to accelerate the National Recount process.
The Task Force decision was communicated to GECOM Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, by Coordinator of the Task Force’s Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) Dr Colin James in a missive dated May 28. The Task Force’s response comes a week after the request was made by GECOM to set up the additional stations.
Addressing the GECOM Chairperson, Dr James noted thus: “Conscious of the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) nature and scope of activities at this time, the National COVID-19 Taskforce HEOC deliberations have arrived at the conclusion that public safety and wellness remains the primary focus to mitigate the negative impact and to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Dr James has said the Task Force “has diligently reviewed its Reports dated 21st April 2020 and 15th May 15, 2020 submitted to your Commission, and has determined that it cannot concede to the request for the installation and operation of additional workstation and increase in the number of persons to be in the ACCC during the period of Recount.”
The Commission is yet to make a public announcement, although the Task Force’s missive was shared with the media.
Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic Commissioner Sase Gunraj is on record on numerous occasions reiterating his adumbrations that GECOM is an independent constitutional body and that it did not need permission from the Task Force in order to establish more counting stations.
He recently told media operatives, “While I recognise and appreciate the importance of COVID-19 and the effect it’s having on the world -- I have lots of respect for it, perhaps even fear -- however, GECOM is an independent body.”
According to Gunraj, “With the necessary medical advice, I believe we are free to make decisions in relation to the use of this building. From the outset, let me say -- and I have said this before -- I don’t believe that we should be seeking permission from the COVID-19 Task Force.”
