Commissioners at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are at an impasse over the proposed procurement of a scanner that could allow the Information Technology (IT) Division to develop an advanced system for the digital capture of fingerprints.
According to Opposition-nominated Commissioner, Vincent Alexander, the matter has been on GECOM’s agenda for over a decade and the scanner was even included in the 2021 budget. However, it was never acquired. Alexander added that the government-nominated Commissioners have now insisted that GECOM should not move toward acquisition.
Alexander said that those commissioners have opined that the procurement of the equipment must await discussions on the opposition-proposed incorporation of biometrics in electoral processes.
It was Alexander who tabled that proposal following allegations of voter impersonation and ghost voting during the troubled March 2020 General and Regional Elections. Discussions on that proposal are yet to be had, but Alexander is adamant that the fingerprint scanner has nothing to do with the proposal on the table.
“It should be noted that what is proposed is merely a technological upgrade of the manner of the capture of fingerprints and has no impact on anything else biometric,” the Commissioner clarified.
He said that the resistance by the government-aligned commissioners is therefore unwarranted, and can be seen as “a clear attempt to stymie any progress that will enhance and make the systems at GECOM transparent”.
