By: Jarryl Bryan
A sum of $250.8M has been allocated in Budget 2022 for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to expend on security and other preparations for the hosting of Local Government Elections (LGE).
This was disclosed by Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira today during the examination of the budget estimates ongoing at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
Over $750 Million was budgeted to GECOM for its LGE preparations. Responding to questions posed by Opposition Parliamentarian Khemraj Ramjattan, Teixeira explained that the $250 Million was intended to cover expenses related to security, equipment maintenance, procurement of containers, and storage of sensitive election materials.
“The issue of other goods and services increased relates to the provisions for local government elections and the services that will be required for that. In regards to the question of new voters list, that is not a budgetary issue. That is a Commission issue. The Chair as to make a decision and if they so desire then, budgetary allocations will fall into place,” Teixeira added.
Under further questioning, it was also revealed that the GECOM Chairman’s salary is an estimated $2.4M while the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) gets $1.4M.
LGE – which was scheduled for last year – is on track to being hosted in 2022, Commissioner Sase Gunraj recently confirmed.
In December 2021, GECOM’s Chairperson Claudette Singh had written Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall to confirm that the Electoral Body will be unable to hold Local Government Elections that year.
She had explained that since the Commission was currently without a Chief Elections Officer, who is required by law to manage the conduct of elections in Guyana, the GECOM was “unable” to have the elections held at that point in time.
After a rigorous process however, GECOM has since hired Persaud as the new CEO. GECOM still has to fill the posts of Deputy CEO and other senior management staff.
These senior posts within GECOM became vacant after former CEO Keith Lowenfield, his deputy Roxanne Myers and former Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo were fired for attempts to sway the results of the 2020 General and Regional Elections. They are currently before the courts facing electoral fraud charges.
LGE are constitutionally due every two years in Guyana and were last held in 2018. However, given the elections fiasco that played out following the 2020 General and Regional Elections, the local Government polls were deferred to 2021.
At the last LGE in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.
In total, GECOM has been allocated $4.1B in Budget 2022.
