Despite objection from the opposition-appointed Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) over the renewal of the Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield’s contract, the head of the agency Justice (Retired) Claudette Singh, is convinced that Lowenfield is still the man for the job.
She told media operatives today, that Lowenfield is “fit and proper” for that position, noting that the official has over 20 years’ experience, and boasted of the intuitional knowledge that he possesses.
Her statement comes eight days after the decision was made, much to the dismay of the opposition-appointed commissioners, who abstained from voting.
“ I have asked that the matter be deferred until after the elections have been concluded because I believe that the true test of the performance of the CEO, would be these elections,” Sase Gunraj told the media last week.
He said that there was no urgency since the contract would still have “had some life” after the electoral process.
The commissioner said that a clause in the contract stipulates that the CEO, three months prior to the contract’s expiration, can signal request or desire for the renewal of the contract. Lowenfield did so, Justice Singh said today.
“It is very rare that one can find a person fit to run this institution, and a person who has worked in several areas in this election agency, and a person who has actually ran three elections. So, in my opinion and the commissioners’ – the government commissioners – I voted with them in relation to the renewal on his contract. Because I do not think that it is proper to have someone hanging, someone with this kind of institutional knowledge to just hang on like that till after the elections. So, that is why his contract was renewed,” the Chairwoman said.
