Govt budgets $2B for elections

Georgetown: Government has budgeted a whopping $2 billion for the hosting of the long-awaited Local Government Elections although these elections remain in limbo as no official date has been set.
The monies were also budgeted as part of inflows for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), even though the new A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government has failed to honour its campaign promise of naming the date for the elections within its first 100 days in office.
Despite advice from experts, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan is holding out that the Administration is awaiting advice from the elections body on how soon the elections can be held.
“We want to hold it as soon as possible. We are waiting on GECOM to tell us how soon we can hold it. Once we get that word, we are prepared to name a date… the ball is in GECOM’s court,” he insisted.
On the other hand, GECOM Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally had told this newspaper that no “decisions” were made in relation to the holding of the LGE and while he saw reports attributed to the Communities Minister, he was not aware that the issue of setting the date or time frame for the elections was one that was scheduled to be discussed in a formal way by GECOM at its planned statutory meeting.
Dr Surujbally advised that the Commission did discuss the legal lacunae that stand in the way of successful holding of the elections, but these issues were known to all the stakeholders who had interest in the holding of local polls.
He explained further that the Commission continued to do what it could at this time to prepare for the elections whenever they would be held.
Local polls have not been held in Guyana since 1994.
The $2 billion set aside includes $1.483 billion and $371 million for current expenditures and $55 million for capital expenses, according to the budgetary allocation seen by the Guyana Times on Monday.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon was on Monday providing answers to questions posed by the PPP/C Opposition during the consideration of the budget estimates at Parliament Building.
PPP/C Members of Parliament (MPs) were drilling the Government on its preparedness for the LGE and the allocations of monies for the various aspects of the elections.
Of that figure, Harmon disclosed that some $250 million would be utilised for the purpose of purchasing billboards, among other materials, to use for voter education.
Also, some $632 million is set aside for secretarial services.
In regards to training, Harmon explained that the total figure amounted to some $53 million and this included some $27 million which was budgeted for that purpose for 2015 along with a balance of $25 million from 2014. Harmon also disclosed that of that sum of money, some $10.4 million was already spent on training and retraining of several of GECOM staff.
Asked about the process of hiring persons to work during the LGE, Harmon explained that GECOM has a reservoir of 12,000 persons who were already trained for the General and Regional Elections on May 11 and it was from there the Elections Body would extract persons for the LGE.
In response, former Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud stated, “It is unfortunate the explanation given. Whether we have a reservoir or not, this nation needs to be informed. I cannot remember reading any public statement made by GECOM that they have identified potential staff and have trained those staff for LGE and that’s a little bit disturbing.”