Govt. buys $20M worth of Duracell batteries

Jan 08, 2015 News

While the date for General Election is yet to be announced, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon revealed yesterday that Government is buying $20 M worth of Duracell batteries for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
Government will also be spending US$169,000 on items such as ballot boxes, security seals and paper.
The procurement of Duracell batteries was one that left many members of the media puzzled and saw a lot of raised eyebrows in the Cabinet. Some wondered if Government was planning to start a battery business.
However, Dr. Luncheon said that he, like many others at Cabinet, were also confused when they were first faced with it, but he does not believe that this expenditure was idly resorted to and would be incurred in such a manner.
Some people, he said, saw this move as a clear indictment of the power sector. He said, too, that amidst the criticisms there were concerns about the uncertainties about the supply of electricity, on Election Day.
The Cabinet Secretary said that he can therefore understand a willingness to excuse the expenditure for as the old adage goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Noting that the aforementioned is just one perspective, he said that the procurement of the $20M worth in batteries could be that quite a bit of the equipment may very well be battery-operated.
“So the Duracell I presume is all types of Duracell, A and B and round and square…to address the different utensils there are the specific types of batteries that they require,” he added.
As it relates to the procurement of new ballot boxes, Dr. Luncheon was asked why after so many years of holding elections, there is need to buy more ballot boxes instead of recycling what is already in stock.
The Cabinet Secretary said that one of the realities is that the challenges to the results of the General and Regional elections demand the preservation of evidence. It is in that context, he said, that somewhere in Guyana, presumably, in the coffers or under the security of GECOM, there are ballot boxes filled with ballots cast from “heaven knows how far back.”
But what Dr. Luncheon said, is that it does illustrate in the absence of formal resolution legally of these challenges, GECOM is by no means inclined to dispose of the evidence and so it reposes somewhere in GECOM’s hands and in its secure facilities, ballot boxes from “2000 to whenever” General and Regional elections were held, the results of which can be had and queried.
He was subsequently asked about the purpose of GECOM keeping those ballots as if the results of the 2011 election for example can be challenged.
While he agreed with this logic, Dr. Luncheon also said that the results are preserved to prove a point through for an academic exercise for example.
He said that of course it cannot undo what the elected government or executive did in a completed term but reiterated that there is nothing wrong in proving a point. (Kiana Wilburg)

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Govt. buys $20M worth of Duracell batteries

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