By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is rejecting a recent move by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to work with the Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC) in an effort to encourage more of Guyana’s youth to exercise their democratic right come May 11.
According to PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee, the Party is now aware of all the objectives surrounding the project that was announced last week.
Rohee said that the PPP/C rejects a move on the grounds that the GNYC is a “creature of international interference” and has no legitimate right to claim its name as Guyana’s Youth Council.
“The organisation claiming to represent Guyana’s youth has no authority to do so, as far as the PPP is concerned this youth grouping is a creature of external interference through the LEAD ( US Leadership and Democracy) project and is nothing more than a group of partisan persons who are attempting to hijack the name Guyana National Youth council,” said Rohee.
According to Rohee, the Commissioner of GECOM did not discuss the issue labelling it as an “imposition on the electorate of Guyana.” He said that the matter should be brought before GECOM’s commissioners and discussed and only then should a decision be made.
“The locus standi of the so called Guyana National Youth Council is highly questionable,” Rohee laboured.
GECOM in a statement last Friday said that in the interest of increasing the voter turnout of youths in Guyana on Elections Day, “the GNYC will be working in consultation and collaboration with the GECOM in the production of a number of strategic communication messages for dissemination countrywide. This decision was agreed upon last Thursday, when the GNYC met with GECOM to outline some of the Council’s plans for helping GECOM with the latter’s comprehensive Civic and Voter Education programme associated with the upcoming General and Regional Elections.”
GECOM had said it is cognizant of the alarming global trends with respect to youth turn out to cast their voted and hopes that the initiative with GNYC “ensure that – as part of its Civic and Voter Education campaign – the unique communication needs of the Guyanese youth are catered for. “
It was also noted that the GNYC has outlined a plan pertaining to a robust public awareness campaign that is expected to capture the attention of youth in positive ways, encouraging them to get out and vote in the upcoming elections of May 11.
