Berbice Returning Officer claims Presiding Officers bungled
RETURNING Officer in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) for the 1997 polls, Jerome Gajadhar said yesterday that his Presiding Officers were guilty of "bungling" on Election Day. And, under cross-examination, by Senior Counsel Peter Britton, for elections petitioner Esther Perreira, the witness explained. Some Presiding Officers failed to place certain election materials in the ballot boxes in accordance with instructions from the Elections Commission and some failed to sign a number of Statements of Poll (SOPs) as they were required to do, Gajadhar said. Gajadhar is the fourth witness, so far, to testify on behalf of respondent Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Stanley Singh in the petition before Justice Claudette Singh. The witness said he destroyed the manuscript and the diskette used to compile his report and agreed that, without them, there is no way someone else could verify the accuracy of his compilation. Gajadhar said his composition was based on information supplied him by other elections officials. It was virtually impossible for him to know of his own knowledge what he had recorded in the document. In another answer, witness said he is familiar with the manual for Returning Officers. One was given him and it contained instructions relative to the storage of documents after the voting. The guidelines said ballot boxes should be left at the nearest Police Station in the district but, after consultation with other officials, he decided to leave them at the offices of his nine Deputy Returning Officers, although there were Police stations in the respective places. Gajadhar said he had been requested, by the Commission, to make proposals for storing the ballots and that body concurred with those he submitted. He could not remember the names of those from whom he secured concurrence but it was by word of mouth. The witness said there was a system in place to transmit results by radio and telephone but it had broken down "terribly" in his Region. Returning to his criticism of Presiding Officers, Gajadhar said 17 neglected to affix their signatures to SOPs. As Returning Officer, he was not expected to sign SOPs but he signed one. "I took it upon myself to sign for the Presiding Officer, because, at the time I was going through the documents, I noticed that the SOP was unsigned," Gajadhar explained to Britton. The witness also confirmed that some he was shown from his Region had not been authenticated by Presiding Officers and, in instances where the General SOP had been, the Regional was not. Perreira, a People's National Congress (PNC) supporter of Lot 75 South Sophia, is asking Justice Singh to invalidate the outcome of the 1997 balloting on the ground that the process was so flawed it cannot be said to accurately reflect the will of the electorate. In her quest, Perreira has cited President Janet Jagan of the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic alliance and PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte among the List Representatives of contesting political parties. But, all the politicians named, except Hamilton Green of A Good and Green Guyana (AGGG), have pledged to abide the ruling in this matter.
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