President David Granger has signed into law the Supplementary Appropriation Act that was passed last month to provide the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) with $3.5 billion in funding for the holding of general and regional elections in 2019.
The Act, which was passed by the Assembly on May 23rd and signed by President Granger on June 12th, provides several ministries and constitutional agencies with additional funding for 25 additional projects during the 2019 fiscal year.
In total, $7.9 billion in additional spending has been approved, with $3.5 billion for GECOM, $2 billion in funding for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, and $1.5 billion for the Ministry of Communities. Also approved were several hundreds of millions in funding for the ministries of Finance, Social Cohesion, Social Protection and Public Security.
At the time of the then bill’s passage, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said that irrespective of the anticipated ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the monies would be available to GECOM for it to start preparing for the elections. He also noted that the allocation meant that nearly $9 billion was being spent on the upcoming election as $5.4 billion had already been allocated to GECOM for 2019.
The CCJ has since ruled that the December 21st no-confidence motion was legally passed, which makes elections in 2019 almost a certainty. The governing coalition, however, maintains that the credible elections cannot be held without a new voters’ list compiled following a national house-to-house registration exercise.
Initially, $2.9 billion of the total sum allocated was earmarked for 2020 poll preparations, which, if not for the passage of the December 21st no-confidence motion against government, would be constitutionally due by August next year. In addition, $3.36 billion was allocated for house-to-house registration, scheduled to begin this year.
In total, GECOM, which has been allocated $4,893,061,000 for current expenditure, had requested an additional $3,314,152,155 but received $3,300,000,000.
Of that sum, $113,491,000 is allocated for training, while $409,586,200 is allocated for transport and travel.
Also approved was an additional $182,344,000 in capital funds, the full sum requested by the agency.
Capital expenditure, according to the estimates tabled, includes the purchase of several vehicles, such as boats to traverse the interior locations during the conduct of the polls. Also provided for is the purchase of furniture and equipment as well as an upgrade of Multiple Identity Document Issuing System (MIDIS).
The upgrade of the MIDIS will, according to GECOM, lead to the production of better quality Identification Cards and more upgraded equipment, which will reduce machine downtime
Notably, at least $49.3 million of the sum requested under Capital Expenditure was related to items “required for House to House registration.”
