GECOM’S $46.5B expenditure under scrutiny

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has reportedly spent approximately $46.53 billion over the past 15 years, yet questions remain about whether taxpayers have received value for money and whether the institution’s expenditure has been subjected to adequate independent scrutiny.

This is the concern raised by Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram in the first of a two-part commentary titled “GECOM has lost its way – time for reversal: The cost of an electoral institution.”

Ram argues that while the country requires a permanent and professional electoral administration, there is a fundamental difference between maintaining a permanent secretariat and retaining a politically constituted commission indefinitely.