Dear Editor,
AS the nation continues the recount process, it is shocking to see how representatives of GECOM continue to be attacked by forces sympathetic to the PPP/C. Even the Chairperson, Retired Justice Claudette Singh has not been spared the vitriolic attacks. It indeed seems to be open season for the likes of Roy Beepat, Christopher Ram, Jerry Gouveia and Kit Nascimento. The individuals and groups with special interests seem to have willing allies in most sections of the private media who are bent on seeing a return to the criminalised state of affairs in the country that obtained under the PPP/C.
The continued attacks on senior GECOM operatives and in particular the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Mr. Keith Lowenfield must be condemned. The public should know that Retired Major Lowenfield has served in the CECOM apparatus for over two decades and has come through the ranks at GECOM unlike predecessors Gocool Boodhoo and Stanley Singh. Lowenfield played an integral role as Logistics Manager for the 2001 General and Regional Elections. After the 2001 Elections, Lowenfield was appointed ACEO Administration.
Lowenfield’s extensive experience in electoral operations was enhanced in 2003 by a training stint with the Electoral Commission of Jamaica. To date, Lowenfield happens to be the only CEO to have presided over two local government elections – 2016 and 2018.
Editor, it was not so long ago that in 2015 Lowenfield’s performance in the 2015 General and Regional Elections was given high accolades by the International Observer groups: The OAS, Carter Center, European Union, Canadian High Commission, British High Commission and the US Embassy. Now, as Mr. Lowenfield has done his duty by highlighting electoral malfeasance, he is being vilified.
History has shown us that there are those amongst us who do not want some voices to be heard; they do this by trying to drown out our voices, by trying to make us feel as if we do not matter. They must know that what we feel matters and we will let them know how we feel.
Yours faithfully,
George Williams
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_06_16_2020