Chief Election Officer Gocool Boodhoo yesterday disclosed that around $254M was spent on preparations for local government elections, which have since been put on hold indefinitely.
“The cost was in the vicinity of $254M. We had bought election materials and we had conducted the Claims and Objections and I think we had released for the temporary staff $136M which was paid out, both temporary staff and scrutineers, and we have some outstanding liabilities which we’re hoping to clear shortly,” he said during a news conference yesterday, as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officially announced the restart of Continuous Registration.
Questioned on whether the agency believed the expenditure was wasted since the election did not materialize, Boodhoo said he thought otherwise since they had added a number of people to the National Register of Registrants from which the Final List of Electors is derived.
Additionally, GECOM Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally said people were trained and material bought which could be used again. “Do not see that as a total misuse or wastage of money. These things were planned for, they were budgeted for, we had an elections to do, we prepared for that elections and therefore we spent money to get that elections going on April 19, 2010,” he added.
Meanwhile, the second Continuous Registration exercise cycle will begin on September 6 and it is scheduled to run countrywide until the end of the year. “People who have now reached the age of 18 they can now be registered so we expect that they will come forward and get themselves registered at the 27 offices that we will be having nationwide in the first instance. We have the capacity to have another 107 more offices nationwide and in due course … you can be assured we will be opening those 107 offices,” Dr Surujbally said.
The staff for those offices, he added, has been earmarked and will undergo refresher training. A Claims and Objections period of about six weeks is to follow the registration process in January and that is to be succeeded by the fingerprinting and cross-matching exercise.
Dr. Surujbally said that in addition to those persons who may have turned 18 years this year those who had married and changed their names could also be accommodated during the registration period. Persons wishing to apply for registration must take along their birth certificates or a valid passport.
For a name change as a result of marriage the individual would need originals of the marriage and birth certificates.
Baptismal certificates, expired passports, documents from priests, elders, toshaos, headmasters and justices of the peace will not be accepted the chairman noted.
“And let me hasten to say too that this was a dictat almost, it was very much an insistence of … all political parties to go this way … and we agreed with that and that is why it might look draconian in the first instance but at the end of the day the outcome is so much better because you know you have a patent list of electors that are genuinely Guyanese citizens.”
Opposition nominated Commissioner Robert Williams, who was present at the news conference, also voiced support for the registration requirements saying that it made for a cleaner list.
“For the first time, real people have been registered and utilising birth certificates or passports so no one can claim any false list and these names of persons were scrutineered by all the political parties in parliament so that no opportunity was given for anyone to be placed on that list by any form of skullduggery or otherwise.”
GECOM will embark on a public information campaign from tomorrow with full page ads in the four daily newspapers.
Asked whether the Commission had enough funds to see it through the preparation phases, Dr. Surujbally stated that they had been assured of funds as needed. “I’ve spoken to certain political leaders on these issues (and) I have received a letter subsequent to my speaking with the political leaders reminding me that I must hold firm to ensure that all funds are received and that our activity, our work is not compromised. At this point in time we are pretty much assured that those funds are available,” he stated.
Boodhoo added that as a budget agency GECOM operated with a cash flow and at present had the money to run off the registration process.
Meanwhile, Dr. Surujbally said there were still 70,828 identification cards to be uplifted and he urged those individuals who have not picked up their cards to do so since GECOM would be moving to decommission the older ones from 2000 and before.
“How could a person not pick up this important document, this document which decides whether in fact you exist or whether you’re just unofficially taking up space? We are going to decommission the previous cards,” he stated.
