GECOM defends hiring of retired election official as new ACEO

On Tuesday, the opposition nominated Commissioners voiced some concern about the hiring process, pointing out that the new ACEO only applied for the job during a second round of advertising and all of the candidates from the first round were ignored.

GECOM defends hiring of retired election official as new ACEO

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) today defended the process that led to the hiring of retired Voter Education Manager as the new Assistant Chief Elections Officer at the Commission.

On Tuesday, the opposition nominated Commissioners voiced some concern about the hiring process, pointing out that the new ACEO only applied for the job during a second round of advertising and all of the candidates from the first round were ignored.

Today, GECOM said the entire process was transparent.

“Mrs. Critchlow’s appointment emanated from a transparent process that involved all of the Members of the Commission, i.e. one in which all Commissioners were availed of the opportunity to interview all of the shortlisted candidates and, thereafter, indicate their respective choice to fill the position,” GECOM’s Public Relations Officer, Yolanda Ward said on Wednesday.

The Commission’s statement comes one day after opposition-nominated Elections Commissioner, Vincent Alexander described the recruitment process as “contrived.”

But while Mr Alexander has described the appointment process as “contrived,” GECOM Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward said the decision to appoint Ms Critchlow as the ACEO was only made after submissions were made by all of the Election Commissioners.

“…having heard the submissions of all of the six the Commissioners relative to the candidate of their respective choice for the position of ACEO, Justice of Appeal (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, Chairperson of the Commission concluded that Mrs. Critchlow’s qualification and experience, as well as her institutional knowledge, placed her at an advantage above the other candidates,” the Public Relations Officer explained.

Ward pointed out the newly appointed ACEO was employed with GECOM for 20 years and acted in the position as ACEO on multiple occasions, the most recent being 2017-2019.

“The experience she garnered in the field of registration and electoral processes; having worked in different areas including but not limited to the registration of eligible non-resident persons, non-resident balloting, overseeing the operations of 29 Registration Offices and Sub Offices, preparation of Official Lists of Electors (OLE), extracting names of members of the disciplined forces from the OLE, make her eminently qualified for the post,” Ward reasoned.

But Mr Alexander, in making his claim, explained that Ms Critchlow did not apply for the first position when the vacancy was first advertised by the Commission, and therefore, was not among those shortlisted.

He complained that after the first set of applicants were shortlisted, the Commissioners were informed that those persons did not meet the eligibility criteria and as such, there was a need for the post to be re-advertised.

According to the Elections Commissioner, only Ms Critchlow applied for the post when the vacancy was advertised for a second time.

The Election Commissioner said although the five applicants from the initial list were deemed ineligible, they too were shortlisted for a second time.

He is of the view that the move to readvertise the post was a waste of time and may have been for a specific purpose.

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