The By-Election in Cayo North is only 6 days away, and since yesterday, the Opposition Party has been accusing the Ruling UDP Administration of using their Government authority to make political mischief in that constituency.??The accusation is that Jerrylyn Bruce, the Senior Registering Officer from the Cayo North Elections and Boundaries Branch, was transferred from her post on Tuesday. A letter was sent to her the day before, and it read, "Please be informed, that effective December 23, you are being re-assigned as Registering Officer for the Cayo West Electoral Division. As a result, you are being requested to officially report to the Benque Viejo Registration Office."?
The one day notice is peculiar, but the PUP say that Chief Elections Officer Josephine Tamai, must answer why it was so urgent to transfer this public officer on such short notice.??In the meantime, they're linking it to reports that a senior UDP operative went into the Cayo North Elections and Boundaries office and demanded to get access to the Binders of the registered voters in that constituency. These binders are important for the verification process of persons who want to cast their vote in the upcoming by-election. This is the copy of information which the election officers will use to determine who is registered voter in Cayo North, and who is not.
The suggestion is being made that the reason she was transferred so abruptly is that she denied this senior UDP operative access to the binders.
Today, the Opposition Party's Secretary General, the Chairman, and the Legal Advisor held a press conference demanding that the Chief Election Officer explain Bruce's transfer, and to dispel any suggestion that the alleged political mischief is connected to it, thereby compounding the situation:
Henry Usher, Chairman - PUP
"We receive this letter on the 24th December which was last week Wednesday. The letter was dated December 22nd, it was address to Ms. Jerrylyn Bruce who was the supervisor and elections officer for Cayo North and Cayo North East, giving her one day's notice to transfer, a reassignment, as they called it in the letter from Cayo North and North East to Cayo West in Benque Viejo - one day's notice. This latter was not signed by the chief elections officer, but rather somebody signing on her behalf. I call again because I didn't get an response yesterday, I call again on the chief elections officer to explain why this was done at such a short notice and against the very regulations of the government which states that public officers and in particular elections officers are only to be transferred during the months or the announcement, the notice is to be given in March and the actual transfer is to take effect in July and August. Why was it that Ms. Bruce was transferred in one day? Why was it that it happened two weeks before a bi-election in the very constituency from which Ms. Bruce is being transferred?"
Anthony Sylvestre
"As you are quite aware there are laws which regulates the conduct and as well as the employment officers and specifically as it relates to transfers, the public service regulations requires that the transfer must be for the purpose for the career development of the public officer and it must be on the basis that it would be for the best interest of the public service and also on a rotation basis and so having look at this and being cognizant of this as the chairman has said, it leaves one to be extremely suspicious of the timing of the transfer as well as the abbreviated notice that has been given to the registering officer in this particular instance."
Myrtle Palacio, Secretary General - PUP
"I have seen a gradual erosion of our democratic processes with reasons to lose confidence in the one institution of democracy that of Elections and Boundaries Department/Commission."
We have spoken to the UDP operative who the PUP are accusing, and he has categorically denied it saying that the other side is stirring up rumours to discredit him. He claims that he did not approach Jerrylyn Bruce to request any access to the list of voters in Cayo North. He said that he has had no interaction with Bruce. We have heard that she says she didn't show up to work last week Thursday she was transferred.
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