Are most GECOM commissioners masochists? When Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander wrote a letter detailing a transgression of Chief Elections Officer, Gocool Boodoo, followed by the commission voting not to grant a new contract to Mr Boodoo, the nation believed that the transgression led to the denial of a new contract. To listen to the Head of the Presidential Secretariat pronounce that the very commission had caused a transgression when it was preparing to close the period for claims and objections while 7,000 people faced the threat of disenfranchisement. By his own admission, Dr Roger Luncheon said that there were checks and balances. But there was more. The view that the elections commission was going to disenfranchise 7,000 people was incorrect because the commission by majority decision vot~‘ed to expand the claims and objection period. It is now in the public domain that there were many things wrong with Boodoo as Chief Elections Officer. His staff members in the commission are now saying that over the years he has insulted his officers. He blamed them for every deficiency, brought many to tears and maligned his co-workers, including the commissioners and the chairman. On the question of his honesty and integrity, Chairman of the Elections Commission, Dr Steve Surujbally said, “There was a time when I used to make a collection of Mr Boodoo’s duplicities and dishonesties. After a while I discontinued this practice since no amount of talking to or admonishing Mr Boodoo on these issues resulted in any meaningful change.” One commissioner spoke of questioning Mr Boodoo about an advertisement that should have been posted in foreign newspapers for an Information Technology person. On three occasions when questioned Boodoo said that they were placed and identified three newspapers, two of them in Trinidad. It turned out that no advertisement was ever placed in any part of the Caribbean. Mr Boodoo was not the best person to manage the financial affairs of the Commission. He was the Accounting Officer and the Auditor General who posed questions relative to the mismanagement of the funds kept documenting the same queries year after year. People in the commission stopped short of accusing Mr Boodoo of theft but some of the allegations did warrant police intervention. There was what was described as the misuse of funds relative to the purchase of vehicles for the 2006 elections. An internal document contends, “There was the issue of toners on which (the commission) was prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars when the cost was in fact $2 million.” It must be that those who object to the decision not to renew the contract were unaware of these inadequacies on the part of Mr Boodoo whose disrespect for the commissioners was legendary. Commissioners are now saying that he blatantly lied, misled and even hid issues from the Commission on numerous occasions. Given these shortcomings we must still wonder why the commission kept renewing his contract. Even when the contract had expired the commission refused to advertise the vacancy and allowed Boodoo to apply out of time. There must have been either a love hate relationship or the commissioners were masochists. The litany of woes attributed to Boodoo is legion. He had to be aware of the transgressions. He would sit at meetings and hear the comments; he would see the minutes of the meetings and hear the accusations of financial impropriety. He would have been there when the commission questioned the expenditure on a vehicle that was involved in an accident on the way back from Mahdia. The records would show that GECOM spent huge sums on repairs but the commission was never informed until quite recently, long after Boodoo had proceeded off the job at the expiration of his contract. His mess up with the results must have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back because and begs the question of the commissioners ever trusting him again. His colleagues went as far as to accuse him of attending meetings under the influence and being incapable of making a contribution. The ruling party and the government must have known these things but wanted him to remain on the commission as Chief Elections Officer.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 01:09:05 +0000
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