Registration has begun in Region Three
—PPP/C Scrutineers a no show
—Regional Chairman participated
By Ganesh Mahipaul
DPI, Guyana, Saturday July 20, 2019
The process of house-to-house registration has commenced and residents in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region and residents are responding well.
The inclement weather during the morning hours of July 20 did not deter the enumerators of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and scrutineers representing the APNU+AFC Coalition from going out into the field.
According to Deputy Chief Scrutineer (DCS) for the Coalition in Region Three, Loraine Brandt, the process has commenced and is moving along smoothly.
“Despite the heavy downpours this morning our teams were out with the GECOM staff conducting house-to-house registration. I can report that except for a few residents in Leonora and Anna Catherina who have refused to be registered, so far there are no reports of major hiccups.”
According to Brandt only one PPP/C Assistant Chief Scrutineer who worked within the Toevlugt-Patentia area was present for the exercise. “Their [PPP/C] absence from the process will not derail the work that must be done as we prepare for credible elections,” she remarked.
The DCS added “It is notable that the PPP/C Regional Chairman Julius Faerber did not refuse to register. He participated willingly according to my scrutineer that worked the area where he lives, and I hope all the people of Region Three follow his guidance in this important exercise.”.
Michelle Biswah, a resident of Leonora that registered welcomed the process and said that she believes it is the best way to clean the list and head into credible elections.
“A lot of dead people that are currently on the list can only be removed by house-to-house registration. Take my grandmother for example. When we registered her death, the certificate came back from GRO with her name incorrectly spelt and for several reasons we didn’t bother to correct the mistake and left the certificate as is. We cannot remove my grandmother from the list with that death certificate, so this registration guarantees the removal of her name from the list. House-to-house is the best option and at the conclusion, it will be credible elections, so I welcome the exercise,” Biswah remarked.
The registration exercise continues tomorrow, and Region 3 residents are advised to be on the lookout for the enumerators from 09:00hrs to 16:00hrs on weekends and from 15:30hrs to 18:30hrs on weekdays.