USAID’s Carol Horning and Father Malcolm Rodrigues singing the grant agreement
The Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) has received a grant of Gy$43.4 million from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Guyana), for monitoring this year’s general and regional elections in Guyana.
The grant agreement was signed on August 9 by USAID Mission Director Carol Horning and Chairman of EAB Father Malcolm Rodrigues in the Woodbine Room at Cara Lodge.
Horning, in brief remarks, stated that the funds will be used to recruit, train and place more than 2000 local observers at polling and tally stations; establish a real-time regional communication system for local observers and provide election related information to the general public. The grant will also accommodate EAB in its efforts to serve as an interlocutor for stakeholder engagements between and among political parties, donors, other election observer groups, and the public.
Horning told the gathering that this is not the first time that USAID has been supportive of such initiative.
“Over the years, USAID has consistently and significantly supported activities that promote free, fair and violence free elections with particular emphasis on the transparency of the elections process and equal access to citizens to exercise their right to vote,” she pointed out.
She believes that such approaches are reflective of growing democracies.
“The cornerstone of a vibrant democratic electoral process is the ability of observe and comment on the process both credibly and knowledgably. This was an important component of the 2006 elections that contributed to their widely acknowledged success,” Horning related.
She is hopeful that the grant offered to EAB will result in similar success, resulting in a positive trend.
The USAID director has acknowledged the contribution of the EAB in the restoration of democracy in Guyana, which was early noted in the U.S. Congressional records as well as the Carter Centre.
“We have to train them properly so that they behave as observers and not officials… it’s an important role because it’s a crucial place where the votes are actually counted and tallied… it’s an important part of our monitoring process,” said Father Rodrigues. “Our difficulty is in the interior… some places are accessible only by plane so the training for them sometimes is very difficult.” As such, he related that EAB is grateful for the support of USAID and organisations such as the Carter Centre and the Washington-based National Democratic Institute over the years.
According to him, the plan is to ensure 100 per cent coverage of polling stations on elections day.
Meanwhile, Father Malcolm Rodrigues told Guyana Times International that a burning issue for the organisation is the failure of the relevant authorities to implement the recommendations made over the years.
“We have been making recommendations since 1992, each time very little attention is placed to them and that is very sad because some of them are very important.” However, he acknowledged that one of the recommendations on including persons “call names” was included this time around.
In its 2006-post election’s report, EAB had recommended a review of GECOM by an independent, non-partisan, professional multi-stakeholder task force and a mechanism to depoliticise the commission, as well as make it independent.
The EAB is a Guyanese, citizen- based, non-partisan, non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in June 1991 to assist in the establishment, maintenance and preservation of democracy, particularly with regards to the election process. The USAID financial grant will also allow EAB to provide an analysis of the electoral process post-elections.
