Rohee: Law awaits anyone seeking to repeat 2020 election fiasco

Government-nominated Commissioner Clement Rohee has warned that persons seeking to act outside of their functions during the 2025 election will face the full force of the law.
He issued the warning yesterday on the regional programme Caribbean Tea, which examined the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) preparedness for the upcoming polls.
Along with opposition-nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander, the two gave their views on GECOM’s readiness to deliver free and fair elections and measures to deny a repeat of the 2020 drama, where staffers of the commission and others were accused of conspiring to fraudulently give votes to the then APNU+AFC government.
“I believe we have a well-oiled machinery that is comprised of professionals who are committed to do their job and who are aware that should they be involved in any activity as some of their predecessors would have done, that the full brunt of the law will be applied,” Rohee said.
He told the panel that the actions of 2020 rested solely with persons who sought to flout the law for political gain, and not necessarily with loopholes in the election machinery. This is one of the key factors recognised during the Commission of Inquiry into the 2020 elections, Rohee highlighted.
Opposition-nominated Commissioner Alexander contended, however, that there are several issues nipping at the credibility of the Guyana Elections Commission. He pointed to administrative issues where there are controversies involving the appointment of some senior GECOM officers, where some aspects of the law are not followed, and the failure of GECOM to conduct its own internal evaluation of the 2020 elections.
“GECOM itself has undertaken no initiative to address its institution state and institutional development… even in the instance where there is a provision, for example, for us to deal with the deceased who are not reported GECOM has not found it possible to put in place the mechanisms to operationalise one of the 2022 laws.”
GECOM had contended that the review being advocated for by Alexander and other opposition-nominated commissioners is within the remit of the court. Nevertheless, Alaxander believes the review will ascertain whether there are any flaws that needed to be plugged.

Vincent Alexander