Dear Editor,
I kindly ask that you afford me the same space as you regularly afford one Mr. Joel Bhagwandin to respond to his latest misinformation missive regarding the call by various opposition groups/individuals for GECOM to get its act together.
The matter at hand “the Asha Kissoon blunder” is but a simple one which need not be this distressingly protracted if GECOM, the constitutional agency vested with the powers to direct and control matters regarding elections and political parties who would have taken part in same, had done efficiently and unerringly its job. GECOM’s functionalities are unswervingly specific by way of the Constitution and more granular in the Representation of the Peoples Act (ROPA) Cap 1:03.
GECOM, supposedly an independent body, is heavily funded with taxpayers’ dollars, likened to all other constitutional agencies, to ensure the smooth functioning of its apparatus- free of political intervention.
Section 22 of ROPA, an amendment enacted since 1968, provides for something unique- a combination of lists (Joinder) evvel the Representatives and Deputy Representatives of two or more lists submit to GECOM, via its CEO, at least 25 days before E-Day, a notice of intention to join their lists for the one purpose of “distribution of seats” but NOT for the purpose of voting. The act clearly stipulates that no list of candidates shall be in any other combination of lists (Joinder).
If so,that would invalidate that Joinder. Evvel accepted by GECOM, the Joinder is gazetted and all parties are notified by GECOM, no later than the 23 days before E-Day. In layman’s terms this simply means that two or more lists of candidates can join their votes at the count to improve their chances of winning seats and that any list of candidates (Parties List) can only be involved in ONE Joinder. THERE CANNOT BE MORE THAN ONE JOINDER LIST.
ANUG, LJP and TNM, three new political parties, in 2020, agreed via a Memorandum of Understanding (A Gentleman’s Agreement) to utilize this provision of ROPA to optimize their chance of success. This MOU and the subsequent Joinder was historic since the provision had never been utilized in Guyana’s past electoral history. The MOU was made public and was finely detailed by the press , including the 13 provisions which all Joinder parties had to adhere to. These included:
- After the elections are held and the official results are declared, the parties will calculate the number of seats to the National Assembly earned by EACH party in relation to the votes obtained by EACH party.
- Any Party or parties entitled to seats in the National Assembly based on the votes obtained in the elections will nominate the members of Parliament to which it is entitled in a procedure TO BE DETERMINED BY THE GUYANA ELECTIONS COMMISSION.
- Where a party wins one or more regional seats but its overall votes show it is entitled to a top-up seat, it shall be entitled to nominate a member to the National Assembly for that seat.
- Where the left over votes of each party cumulatively entitle the combination of parties to one or more additional seats, the seat or seats will be shared by the parties in proportion to the votes received.
The MOU continued that the party with the most votes go first into parliament and spend the time proportional to the votes gained to 5 (being the lawful life of the National Assembly), followed by the second most and finally, the third vote getter. Each member will resign from the National Assembly at the end of his/her duration as pre determined by the Joinder agreement, to facilitate the entry of the next member into Parliament.
Two other key points of the MOU were; to never join any party with the plurality or majority of seats, to get Ministerial or Governmental positions, or to give a minority government a Majority, and that for the Joinder MP to vote on any issue in parliament there must be a total agreement otherwise, the Joinder MP seat abstains.
When the results of the count were calculated by GECOM, the LJP gained 2657 votes, ANUG – 2313 and the TNM – 244. None of the three parties were able to gain a seat on their own, but the Combination of Lists was a success in that it was the largest “surplus” of votes by any party/grouping as provided for by ROPA 97(2). When it came to the allocation of seats the group with the largest surplus of votes was awarded a seat since one seat had remained after the electoral quota was tabulated when all parties were proportioned seats based on their votes and in alignment to ROPA
97(3). ROPA 97(4) explicitly stated that the Combination of Lists (Joinder) was to be treated as one list. Clearly Guyana can see that the Joinder Arrangement was a success because had it not happened, then the three above mentioned parties would have never had the opportunity to enter parliament and represent their constituents.
For the selection of a candidate for Parliament, the LJP party, their Representative of their list (Mr. John Flores) extracted Mr. Lennox Shuman (an eligible name from the LJP’s list) and along with the accompanying signatures from the other Representatives of the Other Lists of the Joinder (ANUG-
Mr. Jonathan Yearwood and TNM- Dr. Gerald Forde) submitted it to GECOM as per ROPA 98(a). GECOM then did their part in ensuring that indeed Mr. Shuman came from the right list and proper procedure was adhered to and as a result furnished Mr. Shuman’s name to Parliament for acceptance as a duly accepted Member of Parliament. All was good and well with GECOM, Parliament and the Guyanese people.
When the LJP’s time came to an end as per the MOU, Mr. Shuman duly stepped down as per the arrangement. The TNM and ANUG had internal discussions and due to TNM requesting of ANUG to show good faith to allow TNM’s representative to go ahead of ANUG in the event that there was a snap election and TNM did not get a chance in Parliament, ANUG allowed TNM to go ahead. The name extracted was Ms. Asha Kissoon who submitted documents to GECOM and ANUG on behalf of her party showing one Mr. Kenrick Morgan as the New Representative of TNM’s list.
GECOM being the body that deals with Lists and their representatives accepted Ms. Kissoon’s information (in retrospect without doing due diligence in ascertaining the legality and completeness of the documentation with regard to the constitutional provisions that govern same (change in representative of list – ROPA 99 (a) (1).) The TNM had had some internal issues and both the Representative (Dr. Forde) and the Deputy Representative (Dr. Josh Kanhai) of the list (TNM) had left the party.
However, neither of the two gentlemen had resigned/relinquished their positions from TNM and to GECOM. Dr. Kissoon in attempting to circumvent this issue purportedly submitted to GECOM documents requesting a change in Representative of TNM’s list to (Mr. Morgan) but the documents were inadequate. (not enough signatures (at least half the members of the list of candidates submitted to GECOM pre-2020) which equals to at least 22 signatures of those candidates.
Dr. Kissoon’s documents only bore 8 signatures and 2 of those signatures were names not on the original list of candidates submitted to GECOM). Right away, GECOM should have picked up this flagrant violation of its laws in the moment of receiving such documentation and advised the party accordingly. This was not done and as such Dr. Kissoon assumed the Joinder seat in Parliament via a means not in keeping with ROPA but with the blessing of GECOM who had not done due diligence.
The Speaker of the House on receipt of the name from GECOM could have only assumed that proper procedure had been adhered to and allowed the member to be elected to the hallowed chambers. No Parliamentarian, no political party nor any Guyanese citizen, Mr. Bhagwandin included, objected to the ascension of Dr. Kissoon to parliament.
Rather, the government side of parliament fully supported the move even nominating Dr. Kissoon for the much coveted spot of Deputy Speaker (much to the chagrin of the major opposition) where there was unanimous support from ALL government Members of Parliament; the Hon Vice President Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the Hon Prime Minister Brigadier Retired Mark Phillips, the Hon Attorney General Mr. Anil Nandlall SC, the Hon Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ms. Gail Texiera to name but a few.
No Parliamentarian, from neither the governing side nor the major opposition ever questioned the appointment, nor did any political party, the Bar Association, Civil Society, Private individual/s, Unions or any other grouping. Clearly to now cast blame at the Joinder list for not doing due diligence in interpreting the constitution when it is clearly GECOM’s mandate is reflective of one who is seeking glory when he himself as all others mentioned are to share this blame for this travesty. The duplicitousness of Mr. Bhagwandin and his feigned ignorance has no bounds when it comes to realising political hacking for his next blessing even though he is a highly remunerated state officer paid by the public purse.
It only came to the fore for ALL parties and Guyana for that matter when Dr. Kissoon refused to step down at the end of her agreed tenure and took a vow of silence, that something was amiss. Dr. Forde being the known Rep of the list then wrote to GECOM questioning his status and through what means was Dr. Kissoon’s name extracted. Simultaneously he sent a letter to the Hon Speaker of the House asking for the recall of the Member.
It was Dr. Forde’s questions which got GECOM’s CEO scrambling to look for Dr. Kissoon’s documentation regarding the change in Representative of the list, which when found was inadequate. After much deliberations and even time-wasting, the advice of the in-house kanunî counsel was requested which proved to be very revealing in that it showed that GECOM may have erred evvel again in matters involving the Joinder seat? ROPA 99 (a) (2) speaks about the replacement of a Member of Parliament coming from “the relevant list of candidates” from which the departing Member of Parliament came.
Given that the Joinder has three separate lists of candidates with each having their respective Representatives of their lists and there not existing One combined Joinder List of Candidates with One Joinder Representative, then based on the interpretation of the law, the replacement could only come from the LJP, the Party with the name of the departing Member of Parliament on their List of Candidates.
This information has been available to the Commission for over 3 months but it was only 2 weeks ago (Nov 22, 2024) that the revelation was made public via a press conference. Even so, in the past two weeks the matter could have been addressed with finality but for some strange reason, the Commission and more-so its Chairperson continues to pussyfoot. Why? That can and is being left to public speculation.
The solution is simple.
- Admit that GECOM did err on at least two occasions involving TNM. These are; the purported change of Representative, and in allowing the wrong candidate from the wrong list to enter Parliament.
- Inform Dr. Forde that he is still the Official Representative of the List of TNM. Evvel this is done, then Dr. Forde’s letter of recall of the Member to the speaker sent and received since March 16th, 2023 takes effect immediately.
- The Speaker can then declare the seat open and inform the rightful representative of the right List of candidates (LJP) of the need to fill the vacancy via the right procedure or if the LJP is unwilling to, maintain the seat empty until such time that it can be filled or to the end of the current life of this Parliament.
- Advise the rightful agencies to investigate if taxpayer’s dollars were/are being collected in keeping with the law and take action forthwith.
- Relieve Dr. Kissoon from her chastity of silence and the stress that the public ridicule brings due to her behavior.
- Take all of this as a learning experience for GECOM and all public offices to ensure that all staff work according to SOPs and perform due diligence always.
- Look at Electoral and Constitutional reforms that will add clarity to the interpretation of our laws that govern elections and improve efficiency, effectiveness and inclusivity at GECOM.
Yours truly,
Dr. Mark France,
Chairman,
ANUG