Vacancy ads for top GECOM posts approved, to be published within days

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is well on its way to finding a new Chief Elections Officer (CEO) and filling other top posts within the secretariat following Tuesday’s meeting where the final vacancy advertisements were approved.

People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) nominated GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj told the News Room Wednesday during a telephone interview that the vacancies are expected to be published within next week.

“One of the primary things we had to do was to settle those ads and finalise them because we had already started working on them…it is going to be on the website, the newspapers, social media, radio, the television etc.,” the Commissioner explained.

Tuesday’s meeting, according to Gunraj, went off without a hitch as there was “consensus” on both sides on the importance of having the position of the CEO and the deputy CEO filled.

Other key vacancies include the Chief Accountant, a Legal Officer, Research Officer and Logistics Manager; those vacancy advertisements have been approved as well.

Commissioner Bibi Shadick explained that from a total of seven vacancy ads to be published, two remain outstanding will be completed by the next meeting of the Commission.

“There are two more that we didn’t get to because one has to do with the position that someone got a contract without proper procedure and the other we have to redo because there are things that we want that person to do, so we have those two that we put off for next week but yesterday’s meeting we discussed nothing else,” she told the News Room during a telephone interview.

The hiring of the CEO had caused a rift between the seven-member Commission with the APNU+AFC nominated Commissioners suggesting that the hiring should be done externally and independent of any influence from the Commission.

But Gunraj held to the traditional hiring process and asserted that “the Commission knows best.”

And before anyone can be considered for the slots, they would have to go through a stringent vetting process.

The absence of the CEO and other key senior functionaries are already being felt with Shadick positing that there is a real possibility that the GECOM can grind to a halt.

Gunraj had contended too that the work of the GECOM was being “crippled”.

The absence of a CEO has forced GECOM to suspend the distribution of Identification Cards as the CEO’s signature is needed on them.