If there was any doubt that amongst us insanity dwells, one only need to examine the voters’ list, emanating from Claudette Singh’s GECOM. For the voters’ list was growing linearly, as one would anticipate, however, in recent years has become so exponentially inflated, that it has transcended the comical. And so inflated has it become, of such numerical enormity, that what should’ve been the Official List of Electors emanating from GECOM, has transitioned into a major comic relief for the populace. In fact, this figure of 706,439 electors, as of March 1st, 2024, certainly had the experienced GECOM Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, gobsmacked.
However, when examined in the context of a resident population of 780,000, the eligible voters numbering 706,439, have to be certainly registered on the Ripley’s believe it or not. And believe it or not is what confronts us, considering elections date back to the 5th century BC, yet we represent the only nation in this globular earth and beyond, in which 91% of our population is eligible to vote. As a result, if one was to blindly peruse this voters’ list, it’s likely to be easily misconstrued, this nation of 83000sq miles, has a sparse school-aged population.
But that’s certainly not the case, for our school-aged population is beyond 200,000, with a resident voting population, of approximately 580,000. Which means, the voters’ list exceeds the resident voting population, by no less than 126,439 electors. Therefore, with such a large numerical disparity, if not hilarity, between the official voting population and resident voting population, the germane question penned by Vincent Alexander is, how could this be reconciled?
Thus, confronted with the inexplicable, GECOM desperate to extricate themselves argued, Chief Justice Roxane George created this voters’ list quagmire, by electorally restricting their hands with her ruling. Since, GECOM further argued, it was the Chief Justice ruling which stipulated, none could be removed from the voters’ list, unless certified dead. Which means, the voters’ list will forever remain bloated, hence liable to fraudulent abuse, since none can be removed, more so the non-resident electors, thousands of whom are dead.
But with rampant fraud in the last election, GECOM should’ve considered petitioning the legislature, for an amendment of the requisite electoral laws. However, this or any other intervention, GECOM is reluctant to undertake, since well aware they are, they can forever hide behind the Chief Justice’s ruling.
Mark’s Take
And with this great debate on the voters’ list and nonresident electors topical, none other than Clement Rohee, the combative GECOM Commissioner, is to insert his tainted thoughts. For the overwhelming evidence, cogently argued by Vincent Alexander is, nonresident electors overpopulate the voters’ list, to the extent that it approximates the resident population.
Moreover, as articulated by this column, GECOM doesn’t have mechanisms in place, to identify and remove dead nonresident electors, from the voters’ list. Nor do they have mechanisms in place, to identify and validate, the identities of nonresident electors. Therefore, confronted with these serious limitations and electoral fraud, this column would argue, it would be prudent of GECOM to consider sequestration of nonresident electors, until such time as they can be appropriately managed.
However, despite Vincent Alexander’s credible arguments, the discredited Clement Rohee, attempting to pull wool over our eyes, counter-argues that the nonresident electors aren’t sizeable, with the continuous growth of the population. For his fallacious argument is one which implies, a significant percentage of the nonresident elector’s population have remigrated, that is returned to Guyana. But even as he makes such an asinine argument, he failed to provide data on remigrant numbers, that would’ve bolstered his case.
Nevertheless, the statistics emanating out of the ABC&E Embassies, evidenced that Guyanese are leaving by the plane loads, with Guyana having one of the highest emigration rates, in the world. And supporting this argument are the recent realities, of healthcare professionals and teachers emigrating in such large numbers, eventuating in severe local shortages. Which is further supported by recent data from the World Bank, evidencing that nearly 90%, the highest in the world, of our university graduates are emigrating.
As a matter of fact, in the 2023 Diaspora Conference, figures provided by Vice Chancellor of University of Guyana, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, proffered that Guyana has lost more than US$1 trillion invested in graduates, who have emigrated. Thus, the fact is, and the evidence irrefutable, Guyanese aren’t returning in large numbers as PPP and Clement Rohee, have propagandised. In fact, they are leaving by the plane loads, which means the nonresident electors’ number is an underestimation, representing a significantly greater percentage of the voters’ list.
