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Chief Elections Officer Says PUP Wrong, Transfer Not Political
posted (December 31, 2014)

Yesterday, the Opposition alleged that the ruling UDP Administration was playing politics with the upcoming By-Election in Cayo North.

At the centre of the controversy is Jerrylyn Bruce, the Registering Officer from Cayo North, who was moved with only one day's notice from the Cayo North Elections and Boundaries Offices to the Cayo West Office. The reason, the PUP speculated, was that she refused to hand over the binders with the information of the voters from Cayo North to UDP Party Chairman Alberto August. The narrative they are vigorously pushing is that because she refused – she was hastily moved as some form of punishment.

The thing is, Alberto August has categorically denied having any contact whatsoever with Bruce. He says he has no interest in the binders and simply uses what is publicly available: the voters list.

But, even if he wasn't involved: the fact is, Bruce was transferred in a hurry. So why did it happen? Today, Chief Elections Officer, Josephine Tamai, sat down with us to explain that first of all, the PUP have gotten it wrong: Jerrylyn Bruce was re-assigned, not transferred. The difference may sound semantic but a reassignment does not require the lengthy notice that a transfer does and it can happen without any irregularity as long as the Elections and Boundaries Officer remains in the same district. She expanded on that with Daniel Ortiz this morning:…

Josephine Tamai - Chief Election Officer

"I want to clarify it's not a transfer, it's a reassignment and some people confuse transfers with reassignments. Ms. Bruce has been reassigned and for those persons who are familiar with the Belize constitution, Public Service regulations 2014 which came into effect the first of October. The definition of station. For a station it's the judicial district so it's not a transfer. I must clarify it's a reassignment so she's now responsible for a different registration office. Similar to Belize City we have several office in Belize City and I have the authority to move those officers around based on the work load and what ever the situation might be."

So, then what about the allegation that UDP Party Chairman Alberto August tried to get Bruce to do something irregular? The Chief Elections Officer says that Bruce's re-assignment could not be connected to any such reports because she made the decision to move the officer without any knowledge that any such accusation existed:

Josephine Tamai

"No, as the Chief Elections officer I received no such report. I would hope if that is true, that my officer Ms. Bruce should have reported that information to myself and the Chief Elections officer. I have had no such reports about anything like that. The first time I heard about it was on the news."

Daniel Ortiz

"Can you say categorically, that Mrs. Bruce reassignment is not connected to those reports that has been circulating that the binders were seemingly attempted to be removed?"

Josephine Tamai

"That is not so because like I mentioned, I had no knowledge of any thing with any binder. In terms of the election itself, yes we as election and boundaries department, what we do, we over see the process on that day. It's not the election and boundaries staff that conducts the election. It's the public officers who are appointed by the commission, so firstly I must state that. In terms of the binders, the binders are what we classify as record card that have all the information for electors. I has their photograph, their full name, their date of birth, their address, their signature, the date they came in, what ever rectification they made throughout the entire time they have been registered. It has all the information in terms of persons. I will go further to say if for any reason, and the political parties are aware of the people act, specifies if that at any point in time, they want to peruse those binders, all they need to do is write a letter to myself and get approval to peruse the binders with the supervision of an officer I will assign to do that. Political parties are allowed to peruse and see what are in those binders but again with supervision from our officers."

Daniel Ortiz

"Is there anything that allows them to move it from the office?"

Josephine Tamai

"No, there is nothing for them to remove from the office."

Daniel Ortiz

"Now ma'am, I know we are talking hypothetically here, if someone were to get their hands on those binders, would they be able to influence the information on them and make political mischief to put persons in who aren't a part of a constituency?"

Josephine Tamai

"Well I will tell you, what we have at those offices, is one set of the record. We have in our possession, the duplicate of those record cards. If for any reason we would find that would happen, I will have to make a decision at that point to use the other set of record cards that we have."

So, since the Chief Elections Officer is saying that the reassignment was not politically motivated, as the PUP accuses, why was it so important to move Bruce less than 2 weeks before the By-Election in Cayo North? The Chief Elections Officer told us that she had to make an administrative decision:

Josephine Tamai

"As the Chief Elections Officer and the person responsible for the election and boundaries department, I have a crucial role to ensure that my officers perform at the highest level, especially during this time. I know that some people have been saying, well it's very close to election but what I want to assure the public is that the reason why this reassignment was done during this critical time is to ensure we have free and fair elections and also for me to ensure that we have adequate and competent persons in place to carry out this election."

Daniel Ortiz

"Are some reasons that her competency was called into question?"

Josephine Tamai

"That was administrative decision that had to be taken. The officer was written to for various things that were being done at the time. Ms. Bruce has to be out of the office for various reasons and at this critical time. As I said, I need to ensure I have somebody there who will be able to be at the office at all time to ensure the work is being carried out."

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