The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has appointed Information Technology (IT) Manager Aneal Giddings to the position of Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO), with Opposition nominated Commissioner Vincent Alexander questing the impartiality of the electoral body.
Giddings, who was also appointed “Operations Coordinator,’ which was rescinded, has testified to “power off” and “remove” a server during the height of the elections fiasco in 2020.
Alexander explained that when the position was initially advertised, GECOM’s Voter Registration Manager, Melanie Marshall was the only candidate that met the five years requirement in Management of National Elections and Election Systems.
“However, she was not appointed. The position was readvertised. This resulted in Mr. Giddings, who had not previously applied, applying,” the Opposition nominated Commissioner noted.
According to Alexander, at the time of Giddings’ application, he was over one year short of the required experience.
“It should be noted that the interviews were inordinately delayed by approximately one year, and it is now being argued that Mr. Giddings has four years and nine months experience. As much as this is contrived, he still has not met the stipulated years of experience. No one in the process has contested or can contest that fact.”
The Opposition nominated Commissioner contends that this is the third time that GECOM has contrived to appoint a candidate who has not met the mandatory requirement, with the latest being the Chief Election Officer (CEO).
“It is clear that the PPP/C appointed commissioners are on a mission to foist candidates of their choice on GECOM with the Chair being complicit.”
