| …cards issued prior to 2008 registration to be decommissioned soonChairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Dr. Steve Surujbally’s overture to political parties to work with the commission in preparation of the 2011 elections has since led to several fruitful meetings.The Commission has met with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), the Justice For All Party (JFAP) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) in this order.Additionally, the Chairman and senior staff of the Commission’s Secretariat met with a team of representatives led by Peter Ramsaroop from the Guyana’s People’s Partnership (GPP).A common area of concern raised by all of the Parties, during the respective meetings, was the large number of persons who could not apply for registration, either because they were not in possession of their Birth Certificates or because their births were never registered,Joe Morgan Reds Jersey, hence they were never issued Birth Certificates.The parties were also concerned about the number of uncollected ID Cards.Dr. Surujbally informed the parties that GECOM is aware that there are thousands of people who would be of voting age, but who could not apply for registration because they were/are not in possession of Birth Certificates, since their births were never registered.Consequently, GECOM had raised this matter at several levels, not lastly with the Minister of Home Affairs and with the Registrar General.GECOM further states that it had emphasised that the need for applications for Birth Certificates be treated with greater alacrity by the General Register Office.The objective behind the thrust was to stimulate suitable action with the result being the registration of the births of the concerned persons so that they could be issued Birth Certificates to be used to apply for registration.Dr. Surujbally had pointed out that all the Parliamentary Political Parties had agreed that only original Birth Certificates and Valid Passports, along with supporting documents such as Marriage Certificates and Deed Polls among other documents would be accepted as source documents for Registration.The objective of the agreement was to ensure that only persons who met the eligibility criteria would be registered.The parties had agreed that Baptismal Certificates, expired passports, photocopies of relevant documents or letters from Priests,Billy Williams Cubs Jersey, Elders,Emiliano Martinez Arsenal Jersey UK, Head Masters, Village Captains/Touchaus and Justices of the Peace or existing ID Cards would not be acceptable as source documents for registration.During the meeting with representatives of the JFAP, a specific request was made by this Party to be provided with the criteria for qualifying to contest the General and Regional elections.“They were given the assurance by Gocool Boodoo,Cheap NFL Jerseys 2017, Chief Elections Officer,Reggie Miller College Jersey, who was present at the meeting that all pertinent information should be sought of him and that he would respond accordingly in a timely manner.”Boodoo had also pointed out that GECOM would soon be organising consecutive interactive sessions with all of the known Political Parties to update/advise them on the requirements for contesting the elections.During the meeting with the GPP,Carlos Santana Indians Jersey, Ramsaroop emphasised this Party’s support for the work of GECOM, and informed that his intention in requesting the meeting was to present significant features of the Party such as its operating concept and the Party’s symbol among others to Commission.Ramsaroop was unequivocal about the GPP’s intentions to contest the General and Regional Elections.During all of the meetings Dr. Surujbally had pointed out that GECOM was still in possession of more than 50,000 ID Cards produced from the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise and the Claims and Objections exercise which was done in preparation for Local Government Elections in 2010.Accordingly, Dr. Surujbally had emphasised the urgency for all of the Political and Civil stakeholders to promulgate among their respective constituents the need for registrants who have not as yet collected their ID Cards to do so without any further delay.Dr. Surujbally made it clear during the meetings that GECOM is moving to decommission all ID cards that were issued prior to the 2008 House-to-House Registration exercise.This would mean that those persons who have not uplifted their ID cards and those with previous ID cards who are not now registered would be without a valid means of identification unless of course they are in possession of valid passports. |
