The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission retired Justice Claudette Singh is unlikely to reappear before the Commission of Inquiry to face cross examination by Attorney Nigel Hughes.

The GECOM Chair was expected to appear today, but was a no-show.  The Elections Commission of Inquiry members reminded Attorney Nigel Hughes that his questioning of witnesses should be limited to those who implicated his client, Roxanne Myers.  It was pointed out that there was no such implication coming from the GECOM Chair.

Mr Hughes, however, explained that Justice (Ret’d) Singh, in her testimony, indicated that Mr Gunraj had accused Ms Myers of blocking him from entering sections of the Command Centre. But the Commission said it is for Mr Gunraj to respond to those allegations and not the GECOM Chair.

Commissioner Gunraj is now expected to reappear before the Elections COI tomorrow at 10:00hrs.

Meanwhile, GECOM’s IT Manager Aneal Giddings, while under cross-examination, admitted that he removed the Secretariat’s server from the Region 4 Regional Command Centre on March 5, 2020 and placed it into his personal car when there were several vehicles belonging to the Commission in the compound at the time.

Asked by Mr Hughes whether his actions were in keeping with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as outlined in GECOM’s Disaster Recovery Plan, Mr Giddings said the SOP does not clearly state where the Commission’s server or data should be placed.

“The SOP does not specifically state where it should be placed,” he said.

But Mr Hughes’ line of questioning did not sit well with Retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, who enquired whether, Mr Giddings was on trial. The former Chancellor is among the three Commissioners presiding over the COI.

“The issue remains the same, has Mr Giddings said anything implicatory of Ms Myers. If he did, put it to him, let’s hear what he has to say,” Commissioner Singh said.

Mr Hughes, however, argued that he was placing the issues into context. Asked, whether he was digitizing the Statements of Polls (SOPs) as alleged by Myers, Mr Giddings responded in the negative. He, however, admitted to taking photos of the “packaging that the SOPs were stored in.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Edgar Thomas; Assistant Registration Officer (ARO) Alexandra Sophia Bowman; and American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AmCham) Representative, Rosalina Rasul also took the stand today.

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