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$14.8M deal…GECOM paid $6,000 for a $600 pair of pliers
As state auditors continue their probe into a number of highly questionable spendings last year by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), one particular transaction is continuing to raise significant
concerns.
In late April, three weeks prior to the May 11th General and Regional Elections, the entity doled out $14.8M for the purchase of nippers/pliers from a King Street, Lacytown business called Standard Distributors.
Those pliers were supposed to be used on ballot boxes at the 2,299 polling stations scattered around the country.
Assuming that GECOM bought extra – making the total 2,500- it meant that the entity spent around $6,000 apiece for those pliers.
That cost would be a shocking 10 times more than what a similar nipper (not a brand name) would be retailed for on the local market.
It meant that for that $14.8M, GECOM could have acquired over 24,000 pieces of pliers at retail prices had it done its homework. Each polling station would have got 10 pliers each. 
Kaieteur News managed to acquire one of the pliers from a polling station official.
The instrument appeared to be of poor quality with a section of the tip already broken off. It does not carry a known brand name, instead the name –TUV Product Service- is stamped on the handle. There is very little information on the internet about TUV.
A similar pair of pliers but which appeared sturdier was retailing around city hardware stores for around $600.
The pliers’ order by GECOM to Standard Distributors would be among several shocking contracts by GECOM last year to the tune of tens of millions.
At the centre of the contract awards are two businesses- owned by two brothers.
Between the two brothers, GECOM paid over $320M in contracts last year under questionable procurement processes.
GECOM is under investigation by state auditors in a scandal that has dragged in the Opposition- the People’s Progressive Party/Civic which was in power prior to the May 11 elections.
The Opposition has distanced itself from the transactions of GECOM, saying that the entity asked for the money and it provided.
Standard Distributors is owned by Mahendra Brasse, the brother of Michael Brasse, a Water Street businessman, who benefitted from almost $290M in contracts from GECOM last year.
An audit is currently underway to probe a major contract to Michael Brasse for a $100M purchase of high frequency communications radio sets for the May 11 elections. The sets, from all indications, were never used and there are questions about the urgent reasons advanced by GECOM for those radios in the first place.
The radio probe by the Audit Office of Guyana has brought intense focus on GECOM’s spending. A number of alarming things have been unearthed.
According to official figures seen by Kaieteur News, Standard Distributors received over $31M in contracts last year.
GECOM, tasked with running elections in Guyana, has refused to respond to the charges of irregularities, saying that there is an active investigation by state auditors.
The revelations would continue to rock GECOM which until now has been doing well to keep a tight rein on its inner workings.
Already, the Opposition has called for the findings of the current probe by state auditors to be made public.
With regards to the radios ordered last year, it appeared that the urgent reasons advanced by GECOM to buy 50 HF radios may not have been so urgent after all.
Despite the $100M expended, the radios were never put into use, according to officials.
The radios were delivered just a few days before elections making it impossible for it to be deployed to outlying areas in time for the elections.
State auditors are also looking to verify reports that GECOM had enough of those HF radios on hand, but yet went ahead and ordered more…those “more” were never used.
It is the belief that those radios, bought since 2006, were dumped on GECOM in a deal involving officials there.
The model was discontinued since 2009, leaving GECOM facing questions over warranties and spare parts.
Several purchases of toners— for printers and copiers— by GECOM last year, supplied by Brasse are also said to also be under the radar of state auditors.
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