The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been written to regarding party leaders who allegedly made false declarations on Nominations Day. This has been confirmed by government-nominated Commissioner at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander.
This is the first confirmation from a GECOM official that the police were notified of the matter which occurred some weeks ago where three political party leaders were flagged for making false declarations. They declared not to be dual-citizens, when in fact, they were at the time.
Leader of the United Republican Party (URP), Dr. Vishnu Bandhu, Lennox Shuman of The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), and Dr. Valerie Leung of The People’s Republic Party (PRP), were deemed ineligible to contest the March 2 polls. Their names were removed from the list of candidates that each party had to submit to the GECOM.
In Dr. Bhandu’s case, he recently claimed to have renounced his United States (US) citizenship. However, GECOM argued that since his renunciation was done after he declared that he was not a dual citizen, his name will be removed from his party’s list of candidates.
Lennox Shuman was removed after GECOM learnt that he was still a Canadian citizen at the time he signed the declaration. Dr. Valerie Leung, also claimed the same.
Today, Alexander noted that the three former candidates have been writing arguing their case “but as it is, on the face of their matter, they’re not eligible”.
Alexander said that the matter has been forwarded to the “people who look after infringements”. Asked to confirm if the matter was forwarded to the police, he responded in the affirmative.
The commissioner was also asked to list the methodology used to identify the three party leaders, he replied, “Clearly, [Dr] Bandhu himself, by virtue of his own admission. I think in the case of Shuman, [he too] by his own admission – all of them by their own admission…The dates that they have given is evidence that at the time of the declaration, they had not renounced.”
Opposition-nominated Commissioner, Robeson Benn shared similar sentiments.
“I think that there isn’t any way that a change could be made to the decisions that the commission made with respect to their removal,” he said.
Asked about the criterion used to ascertain that these individuals were indeed dual-citizens, Benn replied, “the declaration, which they made and information which themselves gave and was revealed too in the press that they were dual citizens.”
Pressed again to say if there is any measure in place to identify dual-citizens, Benn answered, “There is the fact that they were dual-citizens on the day that they handed in their declarations on Nominations Day.
According to the Statutory Declaration Act, Chapter 5:09: “Everyone who makes a declaration according to this Act containing any statement false in fact, which he knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to imprisonment for one year.”
Further to that, Article 155 of the Guyana Constitution states: “(1) No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who – (a) is, by virtue of his or her own act, under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or State.”
