Dear Editor,
The order by Dr Roger Luncheon to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that GINA must use the new government website for all its advertisements other than those associated with discharging its constitutional and legal responsibilities raises some serious questions with grave implications. It represents the most potentially flagrant threat to the independence of that body and to the fair conduct of elections since 1992.
It is too late now to remind the citizenry that Eusi Kwayana had warned six years ago of the danger of making GECOM, a constitutional body, a budget agency under the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003 (FMAA). The effect is to make it dependent on the Ministry of Finance, rather than on the National Assembly, for money to carry out its duties and functions. It is not too late though to draw attention to the fact that the current threat is more than a matter of money. It is about important information concerning elections and their processes. It goes to one of the pillars of democracy.
Maybe this is Dr Luncheon’s doosra, a form of baiting to test the resolve and independence of its commissioners. Or even to set up a confrontation with GECOM for reasons which are already being speculated upon. It is a good sign that one PPP-nominated commissioner, Senior Counsel Moen McDoom, has had the courage to question publicly Dr Luncheon’s ruling.
But before we all rush in with apoplectic rage, GECOM should seek to clarify what Dr Luncheon really means and whether this was some form of circular letter to all budget agencies in which he overlooked the constitutional status of GECOM. While communication is always better than litigation, with elections now due in less than one year, GECOM should approach the courts without delay on the issue of whether voter education is not part of the “constitutional and legal” responsibilities. Indeed, it should also ask the court to address the apparent conflict between the constitution and the FMAA in relation to GECOM, having regard to the supremacy of the constitution.
Let us take the matter one step further and assume that Luncheon and the cabinet intend to impose the feared restrictions on GECOM. It would be easy to say that GECOM should simply disregard the doctor’s orders and continue to use the daily newspapers and the television to educate the public. That ignores the practical matter that under the FMAA the government holds the purse strings and hates being challenged, let alone defied. And that the media will not take the ads without the assurance of payment.
Nor is it GECOM’s responsibility alone. Every action necessary must be taken – by every citizen, corporate, individual, NGO, the media, the private sector, the churches, the trade union movement, women’s organisations, professionals and laypersons, consumers, the Bar Association, and of course the political parties – to protect the country from this creeping and leaping danger.
A massive collective and collection effort should be organised to raise money to pay for GECOM’s ads. This calls for a campaign and a crusade. The people must be mobilised to demonstrate their rejection of this unlawful diktat. The press must be prepared to offer GECOM substantial discounts on their advertising rates and must also show their displeasure by refusing to carry any news about the government, the President, ministers, ministries and departments until the restriction is removed. That alone will free up space for advertisements. The private sector businesses that have been the beneficiaries of the democratic dividends must now be willing to finance the defence of those benefits.
It is time for Guard 2, the re-establishment of a civic group to defend the constitution, give voice to the voiceless, resist the attempt to take away the gains of 1992, show the supremacy of the people and make an unambiguous statement to the government that the constitution must be respected. And that GECOM will be supported.
This is not only an opportunity but an obligation for the political parties and the rest of society to stand up for Guyana. Failure is too frightening to contemplate.
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Ram
