House clears further $3.5b for GECOM

Winston Jordan

The National Assembly yesterday approved a $7.9 billion supplementary appropriation which included $3.5 billion in funding for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), $2 billion in funding for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and $1.5 billion for the Ministry of Communities as well as several hundreds of millions in funding for the Ministries of Finance, Social Cohesion, Social Protection and National Security.

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) which has said that it would not be returning to the House until the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) rules on the validity of the December 21st no-confidence motion was once again absent.

Government parliamentarians used the opportunity to have a total of 25 new appropriations approved without objection.

As the CCJ decision looms the sums approved for GECOM are slated to “meet the additional cost of conducting general and regional elections” but Finance Minister Winston Jordan stressed that they were not being tabled in expectation of any particular verdict.