GECOM SHOULD DEFY THE GOVERNMENT’S ADVERTISING ORDER

Oct 17, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The missive that the Head of the Presidential Secretariat sent to the Guyana Elections Commission directing how that body should go about placing advertisements should be ignored.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is not an arm, an agency or department of the government. It is not even a public corporation, and therefore the government cannot dictate how that body should go about its internal work. The government also cannot do so for certain other corporations and entities such as the Guyana Post Office and the University of Guyana, which have a Board and a Council respectively.
The Guyana Elections Commission is not subject to government direction. It may, as all elections commissions are, be dependent on public funding, but the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission and his commissioners are only too well aware of the importance of preserving the independence of the operational aspects of the work of the commission.
While the Commission itself comprises representatives of the political parties, when it comes to the work of preparing for elections and administering the body, there is no way that the commission should allow any government official to direct the commission as to what should be done. As such, the Commission should totally ignore that missive that was sent. If needs be, the Chairman should throw the document “over his shoulder”. It is of no significance; it is misconstrued and ill-advised.
There are, of course, those within the society who will misinterpret the intention of that missive. All the missive seeks to do is to bring GECOM in line with what is now being touted as the official government position on advertising. The government has said that it is exporting ads to a website and the memo to the Guyana Elections Commission must be seen as part of an attempt to do just this, and not be seen as any attempt to frustrate the work of the commission. There does not seem to be any intention to prevent GECOM from undertaking educational and public awareness work in relation to preparations for the next elections.
Since the missive states that all ads, with the exception of those that are necessary for the discharge of GECOM’s legal and constitutional responsibilities, should be placed on the government website, it may be construed that what is intended is not the crimping of GECOM’s ability to undertake preparations for elections – this is part of its legal and constitutional mandate – but is directed at perhaps GECOM’s procurement activities. As stated before, GECOM should ignore the directive.
When it comes to government advertising, it is clear what is behind the move to migrate ads to the website. It is not savings. Not advertising is going to be more costly, since there will be less scrutiny. Not advertising means that the public cannot sit in judgment of an intended project before it is undertaken. Not advertising in newspapers will also mean that the public may not have all the facts. Newspapers are the main course of public information on government contracts.
The government has moved from one extreme to the other when it comes to its advertising policy. It has moved from economic considerations now to other considerations which are for the time being best left unsaid, but which the public is all too fully aware.
The public has seen through the game plan. They know what is afoot and what the long-term plan is. It is not about savings for taxpayers. But it is about savings, and everyone knows what is meant by that.
There is a game plan involved here and the people of Guyana are smart enough to know who will benefit in the long-term. Take a hit now and brace for success tomorrow.
The Guyana Elections Commission owes it to the people of Guyana, owes it to itself, to assert its independence from government diktat. It needs to stand firmly and say to the government, quite respectfully too, that it will not allow the government to decide on where it will place its ads.
Even if it means that the government withholds payment to GECOM, then GECOM must say no to dictation by the government. For the worst thing that GECOM can do at this time is to allow the government to run roughshod over that body. It must not happen.
Somebody needs to stand up and say no to the government. The ball is now in the court of Dr. Steve Surujbally, a very good veteran tennis player, he ought to know when to volley and when to smash it down the line.

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GECOM SHOULD DEFY THE GOVERNMENT’S ADVERTISING ORDER

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