Jagdeo regrets all parliamentary parties not given funds for scrutineers

Jagdeo regrets all parliamentary parties not given funds for scrutineers
Stabroek News news article. Sunday 11 May 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14123

President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday expressed regret that the Alliance for Change (AFC) had not benefited from the funds allocated for the payment of party scrutineers in the ongoing house-to-house registration exercise as this would have brought about greater accountability.
Repeating an accusation contained in a Government Information Agency release on Thursday and attributed to Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, Jagdeo said yesterday that the PNCR was misusing the $100 million it had received to pay scrutineers. During a press conference at State House he also told reporters that the funds would be audited and if misuse were proven, the government would move against the PNCR for fraud.
“We should have known better and we should have insisted that the AFC and the other party [were included]. We should have known better than to put state funds into the hands of the PNC… that they would misuse it,” Jagdeo said.
He went on to say that the money would have been better accounted for if all the other parliamentary parties had received a portion to pay their scrutineers.
On Friday the PNCR rejected charges that it could not account for the $100M, while Opposition Leader Robert Corbin told this newspaper that no money had come to the PNC; it had been passed to the Chief Scrutineer to pay scrutineers working on the registration exercise.
Without an allocation to pay their scrutineers the AFC and GAP/ROAR decided to withdraw from the registration exercise. They later criticized the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) for ignoring a court order which had instructed it to allocate the funds equitably to the parties to offset expenses for the scrutineering activities. Gecom had said among other things that it had no funds, appropriated or otherwise, for the payment of scrutineers, and that parliament was the appropriate body to deal with payment and apportionment between the political parties. Gecom has appealed the court order and the matter comes up for decision on May 19 in the high court.
Jagdeo yesterday reiterated that based on information he had received, the PNC was using the scrutineering money for the purpose of mobilising its protest march and that reliable information indicated the party had forced scrutineers to come out to march or face non–payment.
He said the money was only given to assist parties with the scrutineering activities because government was interested in ensuring a clean voters list and wanted to avoid complaints from parties that they only could provide limited personnel to monitor the process.
Asked about the specific process for payment, Jagdeo said he thought that a checked list would have been submitted to Gecom and the hours of work verified and then forwarded to the finance ministry where cheques would have been made out to the individual scrutineers.
“But it was a shoddy process and the cheques with the large sum went directly to the Chief Scrutineer. $100M transferred to the PNC to do whatever it wants and that included paying scrutineers and telling them that they have to come out and protest or they won’t be paid,” he said.
Jagdeo said the Ministry of Finance which is charged with fiduciary responsibility to the executive, the national assembly and taxpayers, had instructed Gecom to submit detailed accounts of spending for the previous four months and until that was done no further funds would be released to the parties.
Jagdeo said as far as he was aware no report had been prepared. However once completed and audited the responsible persons would be held accountable. “We intend to pursue this and go after them for fraud,” he added.
The President also said that Opposition Leader Robert Corbin would be held responsible for the monies disbursed to the party.
“They will have to account for the monies they received and Corbin will be held responsible and he should not just shift it to the chief scrutineer because she collected money on behalf of the party,” he said.
Speaking directly about the protest, Jagdeo said he was surprised that Corbin had suddenly woken up and had been giving the impression that the issue of the rising cost of living was a new one. He contended that the solution to such issues lay way beyond the reaches of individual countries.
“Yet Corbin tries to make it a country specific problem. We recognized it a long time ago but we held consultations and spoke to people and I think it’s the height of ignorance for him to think that it is because of his lawless protest that invited the government to act,” Jagdeo said.
He said too that he was disappointed that as a serious party, “the only language the PNC knows is the language of the street.”
The AFC is not moved by Jagdeo’s comments on the apportionment of the scrutineering funds and dismissed the matter as a “PPP game.” AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan was informed of Jagdeo’s statements by this newspaper and in a brief response said he felt that things had turned out the way the president wanted them to.
“They knew fully well that when they give money to the PNC there will be protests, and this breaking down on police barriers and burnings and they will take this to their strongholds to gain mileage. It is not strange to me; this is the mastergame of the PPP,” he said.