Georgetown: The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to date has not agree on a date for the start of the national recount of the March 02 general and regional elections, but the elections body has received approval from the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to extend its daily counting hours to 19:00hrs. As such, the process will run from 08:00hrs to 19:00hrs daily.
Commissioner Vincent Alexander said GECOM has not received communication on the specific time and date for the arrival of a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which will serve as the main observers to sign off on the credibility and transparency of the recount.
The National COVID-19 Task Force had said it had given permission to CARICOM to land a chartered flight with the CARICOM team on Thursday.
Alexander said the GECOM Secretariat is well on its way to being prepared to carry out the recount. He said it was his opinion that once the team arrives, the recount can begin a day or two after.
Meanwhile, GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj the Commission has not yet determined the start date for the recount but the extension of the daily hours is expected to have an impact on the 25-day schedule for the conclusion of the process.
The GECOM Commissioner disclosed that the Secretariat has begun preparations at the recount venue –the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Wednesday.
One of the recent concerns in relation to the recount is a recommendation by health officials to have 33,000 masks for the process.
The team recommended that the masks be changed every 30 to 60 minutes by the 132 persons who are expected to be present at the 10 counting stations.
The GECOM Commissioner expressed confidence that GECOM’s Secretariat is prepared to move ahead with the process.
According to Alexander, one local electoral observer and foreign observer will be allowed at each station.
As such, the issue of live streaming the recount was again brought up with the request to have the count streamed to those observers who will not be at the venue.
However, this was not approved as there is no guarantee that the stream will only be shared to those who it is intended for.
“The proposition that came to us is not one for public screening but to those observers who will not be there,” he noted.
Additionally, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Industry (GCCI) says it stands ready to support GECOM with the minimum 33,000 face masks reportedly required for the national recount.
President of GCCI, Nicholas Boyer said it is baffling that GECOM would require 33,000 masks for the 25 day period for the recount if the masks are to be changed every hour and 66,000 if the masks are changed every half hour.
“On one hand, I’ll say that I am taken back by the 33,000 figure and the other hand, I’ll say that the private sector, being innovative, is always going to be ready to supply if needed. “And so we have a number of members who stepped up when they saw the headlines and say – we can help out and we can supply to ensure this is not an issue,” Boyer stated.
“The Ministry of Health first of all needs to strengthen it’s stocking of masks and also does not have a protocol as strict as what would be used in the recount,” he added.
Boyer said the hospitals are not using this initiative of changing masks every hour or half hour.
“I was confused as to why we are applying a standard that is not even been applied on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight.”
Boyer further questioned the recommendations for the masks for the recount, asking why, if this is medically sound, it is not applied to health care workers who are on the frontline. He said hospitals are also severely under sourced.
He highlighted that the GCCI is in support of masks not just for the recount but also for others as this will be life moving forward.
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