Opposition-nominated Commissioner at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander has raised concerns over the “inexperience” of a candidate appointed to serve as the organization’s Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO).
Guyana Standard understands that Aneal Giddings who served as the entity’s IT Manager has been given the post, after serving several months as a proxy for the substantive post of DCEO.
Alexander contends that Melanie Marshal should have been appointed to the position, noting that she is more experienced than Giddings.
See the full statement from Alexander below:
GECOM has once again contrived to appoint a PPP/C preferred candidate to a senior position, to wit the position of DCEO.
In the first instance, when this position was originally advertised, Ms. Marshal was the only candidate that met the requirements, however, she was not appointed. The position was readvertised. This resulted in Mr Giddings, who had not previously applied, applying.
Mr Gidddings at the time of application was over one year short of the required experience. The advertisement clearly stated: “At least five (5) years in Management of National elections and Election Systems is a prerequisite requirement”. Mr Giddings joined GECOM in June 2018 and is still three months 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 of 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 decision to appoint him has been justified from the standpoint that he is a better candidate than Ms Marshal. In other words, the criterion of experience has been thrown out of the window and the baseless ruling out of Ms Marshal is the basis for choosing a candidate, Mr Giddings, who has not met the criterion.
It should be noted that this is the third time in succession that GECOM has contrived to appoint a candidate who has not met the mandatory requirement, to wit experience.
The current CEO did not have the required experience. All sorts of gymnastics about acting and being a note-taker at the highest level were concocted to argue that he had the required experience.
The position of ACEO was readvertised although at least four of the original applicants met the requirements and were shortlisted on both occasions, However, a retiree who had not previously applied was let in and given the job.
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.
These occurrences are at the pinnacle but the tip of the iceberg in relation to the management of human resources at GECOM.
These occurrences also bring into question, GECOM`s fitness for purpose as an impartial electoral body.
