Singh speaks of the Region Four ballot boxes
by George Barclay
CHIEF Elections Officer Mr Stanley Singh yesterday told a hearing of the Esther Perreira Elections petition that he had to switch the collection centre for Region Four ballot boxes because those boxes were coming in from circuitous routes. Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Singh, who was spending his seventh day in the witness box under cross-examination, said that his action was motivated by reports that ballot boxes were being taken to places where they ought not to have gone. Consequently, Singh said, he instructed the Returning Officer to take the ballot boxes to the Elections Commission and not to the Command Centre as was planned. In answer to further questions, he told Senior Counsel Mr Peter Britton that from the reports received by him on Elections night, he came to the conclusion that there was a likelihood that the integrity of the ballot boxes would have been compromised. Among other things, Singh said, he had received reports that unauthorised persons were seen collecting ballot boxes. Witness said that he could not remember receiving a report that some strange minibuses were involved in the collection of ballot boxes. He was not able to get the number and the identity of (each of) the ballot boxes which had been taken on circuitous routes. Witness agreed that he did not tell Mr Joe Harmon, the man in charge of the security of the ballot boxes about the change he had effected, and he concluded that Harmon should have been one of the first persons to be notified that there was a breakdown in the system. The CEO said that runners were employed on Elections night to bring in Statements of Poll (SOPs) in areas where there were no telephones nor radios. But he made it pellucidly clear that no runners were employed in the Georgetown area. On the resumption yesterday, Mr Singh tendered copies of contracts of persons who worked with the Elections Commission. One of the contracts included that of Mr Arnold Depoo, which showed that Depoo was in receipt of a salary of $236,000 per month. Despite the high salary received by Depoo, Singh says that he enjoyed allowances when he went into the field. When asked who paid the salary for Depoo, Mr Singh said that as far as his knowledge goes, it was the donor agencies, which specified the rates for people being contracted. Witness said that of all the consultants, Depoo was the highest paid. Singh admitted that there was a problem with the ballot boxes and agreed that when the Chairman of the Elections Commission was declaring the results, the issue of the ballot boxes remained unresolved. Witness said that he was aware that it was a requirement of the Act that the ballot boxes should be sealed. He agreed that where ballot boxes were returned unsealed, it would be a violation of the Representation of the People Act. Questioned about Voter Identification Cards and Voter ID Card distribution witness said that his statistics show that there was a higher distribution of cards in the PPP/C strongholds, and a lesser in the PNC strongholds. He said that Region Six, a PPP/C stronghold, had a higher distribution than Region Four, the PNC stronghold, despite the fact that he had established a special task force to speed up distribution in Region Four. Asked to explain why this was so, Mr Singh replied, "It would have been on account of insufficient thoughtfulness applied to the process by my managers." When the hearing continues today before Justice Claudette Singh, the CEO will be further cross-examined.
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