The sordid revelations of procurement abuse at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), as highlighted by a special audit from the Auditor General’s office, are among the issues which Commissioners expect to have their new Chairman confront.
GECOM Chairman Justice (R’td) James Patterson
During the absence of a Chairman, there had been reports of no meetings being held and the contents of the explosive audit not being addressed. According to GECOM Commissioner Sase Gunraj, the issue is now on the front burner with the appointment.
“Yes, we’ve been having regular meetings. The issue of the GECOM audit report has been raised and we are putting ourselves in a state of readiness to discuss the report. We’re still getting accustom to the new Chairman but other than that, I think we are well on track to have the issues we want discussed, discussed.”
Gunraj noted that coming out of the controversy, substantial issues such as procurement practises at the Commission will be addressed. This is even as the Commission must get ready for upcoming Local Government Elections, followed by General and Regional Elections.
“There are obviously larger issues of procurement practises and methods at the Commission, as well as specific issues that were raised in the reports. That is to say, the specific items raised in the reports.”
The audit
A special audit was launched last year after the Audit Office of Guyana reportedly noticed some discrepancies with the purchasing of 50 VHF communication radios by GECOM for close to $100 million.
The purchases had occurred prior to the May 2015 General and Regional Elections. It raised concerns over the extraordinarily high cost of the equipment. The investigation’s scope had included contracts and inventories, in addition to spending for the May 2015 General and Regional Elections.
It is understood that auditors were working from GECOM’s head office in High Street, Kingston. Besides the radios, some of the things that the State’s auditors were looking into were the purchase of a quantity of toners, pliers and batteries.
Based on reports, the radio sets were purchased for use during the 2015 General and Regional Elections, particularly in the outlying regions of Guyana; however, they were never put into use after it was discovered many of them were not working.
Later, information surfaced that while the electoral body would have collected quotations from a number of suppliers, it handed the contract for the supply of the equipment to Mobile Authority, a company owned by a Water Street, Georgetown businessman.
But media reports later surfaced that some of the equipment purchased was obsolete and was not covered by warranty. As a matter of fact, sections of the Guyanese media reported that the Australia-based manufacturer, Barrett Communications, through its European office, distanced itself from the purchase.
The company made it clear that it had ceased to produce the equipment more than five years ago. Barrett said it had also tendered through the Advanced Office Systems for the supply of new radio equipment for the 2015 elections. However, GECOM subsequently cancelled the order.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been calling for the release of the findings, in addition to questioning the deafening silence of GECOM’s then outgoing Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally and the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, on the matter.
For its part, GECOM has in the past defended itself against the audit by noting that because of the prorogued Parliament, it was forced to operate in unusual circumstances.
