The Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, retired Justice Claudette Singh, has sided with the Government nominated members of the Commission and has voted not to renew the contract for the Commission’s Legal Officer, Kurt Da Silva.

The Chairman reportedly cited Dasilva’s pleadings in the just concluded voter verification case as the reason behind her decision.  

The decision was made even after DaSilva received an appraisal score of 98% for his work at GECOM by the Elections Chairman.  

Outside of the Elections Commission Secretariat on High Street this afternoon, longstanding Election Commissioner, Vincent Alexander told reporters that Da Silva’s three-year contract expired in March, and during a meeting last week, the Chairman said she would hand down her “verdict” today, after the Government nominated Commissioners “vehemently objected” to having Da Silva’s contract renewed.

“Today, she pronounced and she pronounced in favor of a non-renewal, contending that his conduct in relation to the last case, the recent case brings GECOM into jeporardy and that such a person cannot be retained by GECOM. We find it extremely strange that someone, who for three years would have observed the work of this officer, would have appraise him and had given him a score of 96 out of a 110, could on the basis of what could be called one incident completely reverse her disposition to the point, not of a warning, not of a reduction, but of a non-renewal of contract,” Alexander told reporters.

Da Silva in his pleadings to the High Court in the just concluded verification case, submitted that while residency is not a requirement for General Elections, it would be required for the Regional Elections.

However, the Chief Elections Officer, Vishnu Persaud, distanced himself from the submissions, telling the press in a statement that the Legal Counsel did not follow his instructions.

But Commissioner Alexander, in the company of his fellow Opposition nominated Commissioners, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman, told reporters that Da Silva’s written submission was first placed before the Commission, and there were no objections.

“Let me say first of all, that the Legal Officer works with the Commission. He is supervised by the Chairperson. He is not supervised by the CEO. That’s the first point I want to make. The second point I want to make is that the Legal Officer provided written submissions and we were preview to those written submissions before they were submitted, and as far as I know, no one gave any negative comments on the written submissions. No one gave any comments on the written submissions,” Alexander said.

He said Da Silva’s oral submissions did not contradict his written submissions to the Court.

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George, though dismissing the case brought by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Carol Smith-Joseph, said Attorney DaSilva was correct as an officer of the Court to raise the issues that he did, adding that the Electoral Laws in Guyana are all over the place, and needed to be fixed.

Commissioner Alexander said while Da Silva is being sacked from Office, the Chief Election Officer, who has made several blunders since his appointment, has had his contract extended by the Chairman in favor of arguments put forward by the Government nominated Commissioners.

“The CEO came up for renewal, who got a contract when he did not have the requirements. We identified issues that were detrimental to GECOM and notwithstanding that his contract was renewed but here now she [GECOM Chair] is using the basis of issues detrimental not to renewthe LO’s contract,” Alexander said.

He accused the GECOM Chairman of consistently siding with the Government nominated Commissioners, telling reporters that she is unfit for office.

“So, we have serious objections to the manner of conduct. We have said to her in no uncertain terms that we think that she is unfit for the job because she has demonstrated that there is no consistency in the way in which she conducts the office, and that cannot be good for GECOM and cannot be good for elections,” he said.

Alexander backed by the other two Commissioners, said with Singh at the helm of GECOM, there is no guarantee that Guyana will have free and fair elections under her watch.

Elections are due later this year.

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