Dear Editor,
Given the non-adherence to the provisions of the Constitution by the Government of Guyana and state agencies, the Government may well be defined as a rogue government and the State as one that is failing given the rogue nature of the Government and agencies of the State.
One such agency is the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). As of September 7, 2025 the Commission has been deliberately comatose through the Chairperson, but the Administration with her fiat has usurped the authority of the Commission.
This all began with the gazetting of the results of the elections without the mandatory requisite public declarations, and in the instance of the regional elections, the presentation of the results to the Commission, in keeping with the provisions of Section 96 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, which specifies that “The Chief Election Officer shall prepare a report manually and in electronic form in terms of section 99 for the benefit of the Commission, which shall be the basis for the Commission to declare and publish the election results under Section 99”, which section states that “the Commission shall publicly declare the results of the election and shall cause to be published in the Gazette a notification thereof”. But, the results were gazetted without the prior public declaration, and in the instance of the regional elections the manual and electronic reports were never prepared for “the benefit of the Commission” both of the aforementioned are mandated as prerequisites for “the declaration and publication of the results”.
This rogue behaviour has persisted under different guises. First, the Chairperson referenced Article 161 of the Constitution in contending that the Commission was not duly constituted, yet she remained in situ, contrary to her own interpretation of the manner in which the Commission ought to be constituted. Worse yet, she facilitated actions that are the preserve of the Commission a la the preparation and submission of the budgetary estimates for 2026, which should provide for the years programme of work, which should be initiated and finalized by the Commission; and the determination of staff matters that are the purview of the Commission, including large financial outlays; inter alia. Second, statutory activities, such as the evaluation of the election have not been undertaken, yet decisions which should be outputs of an evaluation have been made and executed. Third, a meeting was summoned and aborted in conflict with the constitutional provision for meetings, which when summoned and not quorate should to be convened 48 hours thereafter. Finally, no known attention has been paid to the myriad recommendations of the observer missions and outstanding agenda matters, in the preparation of the budget/annual work programme, in the absence of the Commissions input.
All of the aforementioned are but a glimpse of the usurpation taking place at GECOM under the rogue regime, and comatose state that has befallen GECOM, very much mirroring the manner of conduct of the affairs of the State, a la the Legislature`s similar state of comatose.