Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran maintains that it is not difficult to repurpose the funds earmarked for national house-to-house registration in order to hold general elections, since as a constitutional agency the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has wide discretion in the use of its budgetary allocation.
GECOM, which has been allocated $3.36 billion for house-to-house registration this year, decided on Tuesday to inform President David Granger that it needs funding for the holding of general elections.
The decision was informed by advice from the Ministry of Finance, which indicated to 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. However, the opposition PPP/C has challenged the advice.
