Allow prisoners to vote – Bartica United Youth Development Group

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 September 2024, 13:04 by Writer

The non-governmental Bartica United Youth Development Group (BUYDG) on Tuesday urged the government and opposition to take steps to ensure that prisoners could vote in Guyana’s elections.

“All qualified persons, whether held under the presumption of innocence or after being convicted, pleaded guilty, sentenced to prison, held in any State custodians etc. are given the right to exercise their franchise at all lawful and constitutional elections and referendums held in Guyana,” the organisation’s acting President, Kellion Leps said in the letter. That organisation said all individuals who are arrested, apprehended, detained, or held in any State custody during elections must “be given the full opportunity to exercise their right to vote.”

The correspondence was dispatched to President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira, Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission Retired Justice Claudette Singh, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and Leader of the Alliance For Change Nigel Hughes.

BUYDG’s Founder and former General President, Micah Williams is convicted and imprisoned for life for raping an underage girl. His appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is pending.

Currently, Guyana’s constitution only prohibits convicts of election offences from voting, but remanded prisoners and convicts are not allowed to cast ballots in general, regional, and local government elections.

The United States Carter Center, in its statement on the March 2, 2020 general and regional elections, had observed that “while prisoners awaiting trial, and those convicted of all but election offenses, are not deprived of their right to vote by law, they are deprived of their voting rights in practice.”

BUYDG said prison inmates, who are Guyanese citizens, must also be allowed to participate in the decision-making processes of the Government, including consultations and input on constitutional reforms, submissions for modifications to new draft laws, and other related and other applicable matters. That organisation said that would help with their rehabilitation and smooth transition and integration into society and also restorative justice.

The organisation is is also lobbying for systems to be put in place to allow political parties and their representatives to be given equality operative and adequate time to visit, speak with, and campaign among all inmates and persons who are held in any state custody. BUYDG added that if necessary those Guyanese inmates must also be allowed to register and be issued identification cards.

The letter was also copied to the Guyana Human Rights Association, Guyana Bar Association, Guyana Trade Union Congress, United State Embassy, Amnesty international, International Labour Organization, Speaker of Guyana’s National Assembly, Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project Parvais Jabbar, Her Ladyship, Ms. Margarette May Macaulay, President Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and Her Ladyship Ms. Fernanda Alves dos Anjos, Organization of American States.