GECOM must open up for investigation- Attorney General

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) must open up itself to scrutiny in the ongoing investigations of the events following the March 2 General and Regional Elections.

This is according to Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Hon. Mohabir Anil Nandlall.

The AG, today, said there are persons within the Commission’s Secretariat that are the subject of the investigation, and are still functioning within their respective capacities at the entity. Some persons have also refused to cooperate with the police.

“At this point, the important activity in which GECOM is involved is to facilitate the investigations, audits and other forms of inquiries, which are likely to be launched in the near future. There are persons at GECOM who are the subjects of investigation or some component of the investigation and are still in the organisation. That cannot continue. That is not how things are done. Investigations, when they are ongoing, must be allowed to be executed fully and those who are in the agency that are subject to the investigation, are required to assist with those investigations,” the AG said today.

The Attorney General said GECOM is an independent body that is run by taxpayers’ dollars. He noted that just as every component of the Executive Government is subject to scrutiny and examination, GECOM is not exempted and must therefore open up its process for public scrutiny by the relevant agencies of the state including the Auditor General and the police force.

“If GECOM appears to undemocratic and is not transparent and accountable, then how can we get democracy from GECOM?” he questioned.

The timeline for the investigation is a matter for the investigators, the AG said. However, he reminded of the call made by His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, president of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, that no stone must be left unturned in the investigation.

According to the AG, all Guyanese are entitled to know what happened within those five months following March 2 elections, where the country was pushed to the brink.

“These are things that we as a people, as a country, must clearly investigate, bring to the fore and condignly deal with, so that we rectify the injustices done, but most importantly, we ensure it does not recur so we put mechanisms, systems and laws in place to ensure that nothing close to that can ever happen again.”

Some five persons working in the GECOM Secretariat are currently assisting the police in their investigations.