GECOM’s decision to pull ads from K/News…Ads should not be used as weapons to silence media houses- Harmon

Jul 09, 2017 News

---

– columnist says issue could impact fair elections

Government has warned against state agencies using advertisements as a weapon

to silence media houses.
Responding Friday to questions during the post-Cabinet media briefing, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, also admitted that the situation is a difficult one when it involves an independent state entity.
However, the issue appears to be one that goes deeper, affecting GECOM’s mandate to properly educate the populace.
The minister was responding to queries over a recent situation where it was discovered that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which manages general and local government elections in the country, suddenly halted placing its ads in Kaieteur News, the country’s largest newspaper.
The pulling of those ads would have come after a series of investigative reports by Kaieteur

News which unearthed worrying cases of fraud in the procurement system at that entity. The Opposition has been expressing worry about GECOM and its management.
The Audit Office of Guyana, following those reports of alleged fraud, had started a probe into several of GECOM’s transactions, including one with a $100M purchase of unserviceable communication radios in 2015. Those radios were purchased the day before the elections and were never used. Auditors are reportedly preparing to recommend a police probe.
GECOM, clearly upset about the newspaper’s reports, in January, suddenly stopped placing its ads with officials stating that the instructions came from high up in the organization.
GECOM has not come out with any statements to defend itself.
According to Harmon, while GECOM is an independent agency, it is not a situation with which the Government agrees. Advertisements should not be used as a weapon against anyone.
“We believe that Guyana enjoys the status of free press. We believe that the media should be allowed to do its work but at the same time we cannot direct an entity where to place it ads but as a general principle, we do not believe that the use of advertisements should be used as a tool against anyone.”
However, while Harmon and the administration may be reluctant to talk to GECOM about the issue, at least one newspaper columnist believes that the matter goes deeper that the mere placement of ads.

Fair Elections?
Peeping Tom, on Tuesday, under a piece headlined “The citizen’s right to information” (https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2017/07/04/the-citizens-right-to-information/), noted that Kaieteur News has never claimed that it is entitled to advertisements from anyone. As a national newspaper; it has the largest readership in the country. The denial of advertisements to Kaieteur News, particularly those ads relating to public education on electoral matters including registration, constitutes a denial of information to its readership, the columnist argued.
“The issue in relation to the non-placement of ads is about the rights of citizens to information. It is not about Kaieteur News needing the revenues from ads.
Freedom of expression presupposes that people have a right to both receive and express their views.”
This constitutes an attack on freedom of expression
Peeping Tom goes further. If citizens are deprived of information which would give them a full understanding of the electoral system and processes, then the people are being deprived of effective participation in elections.

“This constitutes an attack on the right of citizens to elect the government of their choice since the citizens are being denied information important to them exercising their franchise.”
The public is also being denied information about the workings of GECOM since advertisements, even for tenders, constitute a form of public transparency about the workings of the elections commission.
Peeping Tom also insisted that no election can be deemed to be fair in Guyana when the rights of media houses are being assailed.
“It is therefore for the management of GECOM to explain its actions in relation to the non- placement of advertisements in Kaieteur News. GECOM must explain why it has taken this step. Its failure to do so should lead to the new Commission whenever it is constituted making a decision on that management.”
According to Peeping Tom, it was noted that while GECOM is not run by the government, it nevertheless uses government monies.
“The government has an interest as trustees of the public purse, to ensure that taxpayers’ funds are not abused. The government cannot use the concept of administrative neutrality to continue to finance, from public taxes, the advertisements of GECOM when there is a contention that these ads are being placed in a discriminatory manner.”
With regards to GECOM, at least one Commissioner, Robeson Benn, this past week, said that the ads issue is one of several that he wants addressed but the Commission has not met for several months as there is not chairperson.
Benn, who is one of three members nominated for the Opposition to sit as a commissioner, made it clear that there is unease and unhappiness with GECOM’s secretariat, and Chief Elections Officer (CEO), not sharing information on what is happening.
“As you know, there is no chairperson. However, there are commissioners. We have a fiduciary responsibility in the affairs of GECOM. We have oversight responsibilities but we are not being updated by Mr. (Keith) Lowenfield (CEO).”
Lowenfield is the Chief Elections Officer who is charged with the day-to-day running of the secretariat. As chief accounting officer with reporting responsibilities to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which overlooks public spending, it was explained yesterday that the current situation with Lowenfield is at a stalemate.
Despite there being no chairperson with Dr. Steve Surujbally departing in February, GECOM’s six commissioners continue to be paid. On a monthly basis, each of them is reportedly receiving over $200,000. This means that GECOM is paying over $1M monthly to the commissioners.
With no chairperson, and no meetings, the Commissioners are in essence being paid to do nothing. The PPP commissioners are Bibi Shadick, Robeson Benn and Sase Gunraj.
The three commissioners of the Government side are Vincent Alexander, Sandra Jones and Charles Corbin.
Government and the Opposition are currently at a stalemate over the selection of a new chairperson. The Opposition has submitted two lists of candidates- both were rejected. Another list is being prepared.

Fraud
With regards to the situation of GECOM’s secretariat, last year, a number of reports by Kaieteur News painted a picture of high corruption and wanton spending there.
From indications, there was massive fraud involved with the procurement procedures bypassed in many instances. A few suppliers, two of them brothers, appeared to have been handpicked and given contracts without advertisements in the media. There were even fake quotations in the system.
The reports sparked state auditors to rush in and start a number of probes into several transactions, including the big purchase of $100M in unserviceable communication radios days before the May 2015 general elections.
The radio contract, awarded in highly questionable circumstances to a contractor, saw the equipment arriving too late and never deployed as they were not only outdated but said to be unserviceable. Millions more were spent in the purchase of Duracell batteries, pliers and toners, among other things.
GECOM has refused to comment, saying only that it would await the outcome of the state audits.
The probe into the radio purchase is almost completed with the findings highly alarming, officials say, with Lowenfield asked to respond to them.
Following a heads up over the weekend from a sister media house, Kaieteur News discovered that GECOM, upset by the coverage of its spending for the 2015 general elections and for the Local Government Elections last year, had pulled its ads from the newspaper.
Under policies, government agencies would place ads in all the media houses or with those with the widest reach.
As part of its mandate, GECOM is bound to regularly publish educational messages and other updates to ensure citizens are informed.

---

---