The Office of the President (OP) has directed the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM) to submit its advertisements and notices for publication through the new government procurement website.
In correspondence dated September 16, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon specifies that advertisements/notices “with the exception of those associated with discharging GECOM’s constitutional and legal responsibilities (Orders, Notices, Acts and Amendments)” must be submitted to the Government Information Agency (GINA) for placement on www.eprocure.gov.gy.
However, GECOM is currently conducting a continuous registration exercise which is a precursor to the next general elections, constitutionally due late next year. The poll preparations will involve significant public awareness and education work across the country.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally emphasised that GECOM’s civic and voter education activities cannot be done solely using the website. “We are fighting that,” he said.
He noted that GECOM received the advisory like other “budget agencies.” In addition to GECOM, the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003 also made the Parliament Office, the Office of the Auditor General, the Supreme Court, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Office of the Ombudsman budget agencies.
Surujbally said that while the Act encroaches on the commission’s constitutional mandate, it is an issue that the body has left to be solved by the parliament since it created the problem.
It is believed that the reference to GECOM’s “constitutional and legal” responsibilities would offer room for manoeuvring in the placement of ads and notices. Luncheon has stated that the government intends “to migrate” as many government ads and notices from the print media, which he has described as the more expensive means of advertising. However, he has said some categories of notices would be placed in traditional media, on the basis of existing legislation in some instances.
Since the government’s announcement of its decision, state agencies have discontinued ads previously published in the newspapers. Among them are GuySuCo and GPL.
Last month, GuySuCo requested that all of its ads to be published in the four daily newspapers be discontinued and this newspaper learnt that the corporation would be publishing its ads on the state website. Earlier, the power company also informed via email that it would be “pulling all print and electronic advertisements with immediate effect.”
Other agencies have also avoided placing ads in SN. This week, the New Building Society placed ads only in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Times. The government holding company, NICIL has also not placed ads in SN.
Despite the government’s arguments, the main opposition PNCR has contended that the move was intended to starve independent newspapers of advertising.
The issue of the award of state ads has become a contentious one ever since 2007 when Stabroek News had all state advertising pulled for a period of 17 months. No reason was given for this withdrawal but after the newspaper went public with the cut-off, government officials and GINA then argued that it was the policy that the state paper would receive ads along with the privately-owned newspaper with the highest circulation. The Kaieteur News was then identified as this newspaper without the benefit of any analysis of circulation or sectoral preference.
The placement of government ads in Stabroek News resumed in April 2008, without any official explanation being given.
However, Kaieteur News had recently been getting fewer ads while the one-year-old Guyana Times had seen an increase in the portion of state ads being received. The former issued an offer to publish government ads for free which the administration and this has started.