A date has not been set as yet, but the Electoral and Boundaries Commission is gearing up for the General Election constitutionally due next year.
Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday morning as he led off the debate on the money resolution to supplement the Estimates, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, asked Parliament to approve $591 067 as part of those preparations. He in fact told the Lower House that the money is required to assist in facilitating the hiring of additional staff and the acquisition of equipment and take the Commission through to the end of the financial year among other things. He spoke of the required finances as he disclosed that the department was able to identify savings of $61 992 in its efforts to determine what monies were required.
“In preparation for the upcoming general election the department has requested the creation of 13 temporary posts, made up as to one Senior Executive Officer; ten clerical officers and two clerk typist posts. Now of those 13 temporary posts, five of the clerical officer posts were filled in September and as a result an estimated sum of $90 660 will be required to supplement this vote for expenditures to be incurred from September 1 to March 31, 2018,” he indicated.
PM Stuart further told the House that additional sums are also required for National Insurance Contributions as the originally estimated $300 967 would be insufficient to cover the costs of the employer’s contribution to the National Insurance Scheme. As such, he said $9 293 additional is required. Moreover, the Prime Minister stated that in respect of the rental of property, while no funds were allocated in the Estimates, the Electoral Department is required to rent two scanners for a period of three months to complete the scanning of National Registration cards and he said this will cost in the region of $1 950.
“Then Mr. Chairman there is Account Code 210 where the sum $426 564 had been provided in the Estimates of Expenditure 2017-2018 for purchasing supplies and materials, but again because there is an upcoming general election, certain expenditures have been incurred in reopening 30 constituency registration centres in preparation for the elections. Therefore, the sum which was allocated at the beginning of the financial year, the sum of $426 564, is insufficient to meet the expenditures projected till the end of the financial year. The expenditures incurred and projected include the purchase of printer ink, surge protectors, cameras and other peripherals used in registration equipment and therefore Account Code 210 the sum of $117 881 is required to supplement the Estimates,” he stated.
He further disclosed that in respect of other operating expenses, an additional $173 639 to help pay members of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission for meetings, advertising the reopening of constituency registration centres and the projected costs for paying security guards of the Ministry of Defence and Security who will be providing security services on an overtime basis is needed. His comments came as he indicated that the department also needs additional licences for the Advanced Civil ID Registration Software for the 30 constituency registration officers and the Document Management Administration, which is being used for scanning master registration record cards to ensure there, is an electronic photographs of all registrants. He revealed that this will require an additional $197 644.
“So the sum of $591 067 is required and all of these expenditures are related to the fact that in a few months’ time, certainly until the end of the financial year, preparation will have to be made for an upcoming general election and the department has to be properly positioned to do all those things that are necessary to ensure that our election machinery is properly oiled and smoothly functioning,” he stated. (JRT)