…in radio, pliers purchase
…AG pressing for criminal probe

THE Auditor General’s Office has recommended that “appropriate disciplinary action be taken against any culpable officer or officers for negligence or wrongdoing” at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in the lead-up to the May 2015 General Elections.
In his report, the auditor general (AG) unearthed a number of what can be deemed irregular procurement procedures at GECOM and has recommended also that the Guyana Police Force be called in to conduct an in-depth investigation with a view to instituting charges, if the criminal offences are deemed to have been committed.
The report has not yet been made public, but a source close to the Ministry of Communities told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday that the Audit Office has also recommended that GECOM implement internal control systems, especially as they relate to the examination of payment vouchers and the release of payments in IFMAS.
But notwithstanding the findings of the Audit Office, GECOM has rejected some of the recommendations and noted in its response to the AG that “consistent with its desire to establish and maintain the highest standards of probity, the commission was poised to take appropriate disciplinary action against any officer found culpable for wrongdoing or negligence.”

However, the commission said it has been unable to identify any instance recorded in the report where any officer was so identified and warranting any action beyond that which was specified in the comments directly related. “Given our assessment and the lack of evidence to take any further internal action, as stated in our response to the second of the three recommendations, on the basis of the data presented in the report, it would be incomprehensible for us to engage the Guyana Police Force to pursue criminal indictments as suggested in the third and final of the three recommendations,” GECOM stated in its response to the Audit Office.

GECOM said it was forced to operate in unusual circumstances as a result of Parliament being prorogued and the entity had less than 90 days to commence work for elections and argued that it had to reach out to traditional suppliers, with whom the entity has had a history, to provide items given the time constraints.

The commission said that in normal circumstances, it is given six months to complete the full constitutional process which includes the organising of the Claims and Objections period, the publishing of a preliminary and official voters’ list, the supervision of Nominations Day and the systems for election day which include all required equipment (radio sets, alternative power systems, and toners for printers among others).
In its defence, the commission said the unserviceable mobile radio sets referred to by the Audit Office may have been as a result of a heat build-up in the storage facility. As a result, air-conditioned units have since been installed at the commission’s East Coast Demerara (ECD) storage facility to prevent another recurrence and to ensure that all items are stored under a stable temperature. But notwithstanding GECOM’s denial of wrongdoing, the Audit Office maintained its position and noted that its recommendation for the commission to engage the police with the view to having charges instituted is as a result of the fact that the authenticity of the quotation from Massy Technologies could not be ascertained.
The Audit Office said too that the recommendation by the commission to award the contract to Mobile Authority can be deemed arbitrary, given that the quotations from the supplier bore dissimilar information and six apparent inoperable radio sets valued approximately $11, 946,000 were received and taken back into stock. Additionally, the Audit Office noted that at the time of its inspection of the radio sets in September, 2016, 44 radio sets (15 Barrett and 29 ICOM) valued approximately $87, 613,000 were yet to be utilised by GECOM.

Based on its position, the Audit Office has called on GECOM to review its position as it relates to the recommendations made in the report. Since February, GECOM has been without a chairman as former chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally has retired. Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has since submitted three lists of possible candidates to President David Granger for selection. The first two lists were rejected and the president is yet to pronounce on the third list which was submitted approximately two weeks ago. The question of whether GECOM will rent or own equipment to be used for Local Government Elections (LGE) to be held every three years of General and Regional Elections to be held every five years can only be answered when the full commission sits with its new chairperson and debates the matter.