GECOM needs parliament’s approval to use budget for new polls

Bibi Shadick

The Ministry of Finance has advised the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) that it must return to the National Assembly for permission to alter its budgetary allocations in order to finance the holding of general and regional elections.

“I understand that some law passed in 2015 which seems to suggest that a constitutional agency cannot alter its allocations without approval from the National Assembly,” PPP/C-nominated commissioner Bibi Shadick told Stabroek News in an invited comment.

The law in question is the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act, No. 4 of 2015. Specifically Section 80B (7) states that the annual budget of a constitutional agency approved by the National Assembly shall not be altered without the prior approval of the National Assembly.