The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has sufficient monies to fund March 2, 2020, Regional and General Elections, two commissioners confirmed.
When PPP-aligned Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, was asked whether the entity has enough funds, he told the Guyana Standard, “As far as I am aware, yes. GECOM has $8B at its disposal”.
However, Gunraj could not say whether those monies were already released from the Ministry of Finance to the agency.
Meanwhile, government-aligned Commissioner Vincent Alexander, when asked the same question, said, “We do not have a problem with funding as far as I know”. He, however, could not comment on the available amount.
“I don’t have a reason to comment on how much we have currently, because they are being expended, but we do have enough funds for the hosting of Elections and if perchance we don’t have enough funds I think we still have some time to approach the parliament,” he said.
The government had said that Parliament will remain undissolved in case GECOM needs additional funds.
Just recently, the Director-General (DG) of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, said that it is important that GECOM gets all the resources it needs to ensure that credible elections are held.
Article 61 of the Constitution states: “An election of members of the National Assembly under Article 60 (2) shall be held on such day within three months after every dissolution of Parliament as the President shall appoint by proclamation.”
President David Granger has since proclaimed March 2, 2020, as the date for elections. The three-month period came into effect yesterday (December 2).
