Dear Editor,
Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) received over $9 billion between April 2019 and November 2019. As provided from the National Budget for 2019, GECOM was allocated $5.546 billion and this sum was further supplemented with an additional $3.482 billion in May 2019 after the Commission indicated to the ‘caretaker President Granger’ that the Commission lacked the financial resources to facilitate early elections. Further, a substantial amount of money ‘rolled’ over from 2018. GECOM must be accountable. The Auditor General had serious questions in respect to the 2014 and 2015 audit that was done for GECOM, it is important that Mr Keith Lowenfield clears all the audit queries
Further, the audit for the year 2016, 2017, 2018 and now 2019 are all pending. Our taxpayers must not allow this thieving to continue. There is absolutely no trust, no confidence, no accountability and we depend on these same people to deliver credible elections. We have full confidence in the Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh to restore trust, confidence, and accountability and most of all to deliver free and fair elections.
The question of the renewal of Lowenfield’s contract must be carefully looked at and fully discussed. Renewal of any person’s contract must be fully scrutinised and thoroughly discussed at the level of the Commission members.
Vincent Alexander, after making all sorts of wicked and slanderous remarks about the ID cards that were not uplifted is now quiet, as GECOM agreed to an indefinite extension for citizens to pick up their ID cards. GECOM is also rethinking the proposed plan to put out a supplemental list. Any supplemental list will be challenged and it will lead to confusion.
The truncated House-to-House (H-t-H) Registration is in serious trouble. The cross-matching that was done in Jamaica is highly questionable with over sixty-thousand names being questioned. While GECOM is awaiting the result of the cross-matching data, it is clear that the H-t-H cannot be used and that exercise was a total waste of money and time.
More serious is the fact that up to the last statutory meeting of GECOM, on Tuesday, the Commission was still waiting for the cross-matching results from the just-concluded Claims and Objections exercise.
GECOM must produce the Revised List of Electors and further, all Guyanese are waiting to see the Official List of Electors. This is very serious; Nomination Day is January 10, 2020. The RLE will have to be out for public and party scrutiny twenty-one days before the CEO has his final say and produces the OLE.
Now the ball is in the Illegal President’s court. When will he dissolve Parliament? His recent excuse for not dissolving Parliament as proffered by Harmon was that he wants to ensure that GECOM has enough finances to manage the 2020 Election. GECOM, including the PNC Commissioners, has verbally stated that the Election Body has enough money. So why wait?
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar
