The Alliance For Change is nervous about campaign spending and some say with good reason. The PPP, after all, has made its intention clear. It intends to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at these elections and with Mr. Jagdeo’s government able to get generous financial gifts from so many quarters including grateful Chinese contractors (which gifts are of course inaccessible to the opposition parties) the AFC’s Sheila Holder fears that the environment of spending during elections campaigns could lend itself to “corruption“ and “vote-buying.” Corruption, of course, is not a word that you direct at the PPP without drawing a defensive response. Gail Teixeira calls Sheila’s concerns “nitpicking.” Sorry Gail, we’re not convinced. After all, who’s to tell when the PPP is dipping in to its own treasury and when its campaign funds are pouring in from other quarters?
What now is to be done about the issue of campaign financing? The suggestion that a contingent of retired Brigadier Granger’s veterans be assigned to stand guard outside the public treasury as a precaution has not found favour, even with the other opposition parties. We are left with the option – Holder says – of relying on GECOM to ensure that the issue of campaign spending does not create an even more uneven a playing field. Poor GECOM! As if Dr. Surujbally and company do not already have their hands full with registration.
