Banks to close at midday on Monday if E-Day is not a holiday

The Guyana Association of Bankers Inc. (GABI) has confirmed that some seven banks and other banking institutions will be closed for business on Elections Day from noon to allow employees the right to vote at the polls.

These members of GABI are: Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited; Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited; Demerara Bank Limited; Citizens Bank Guyana Inc.; Bank of Baroda; Bank of Nova Scotia Guyana; Trust Company; New Building Society; Guyana Americas Merchant Bank and Hand-in-Hand Trust Guyana.

GABI stated that these banks will close at 12:00hrs unless elections day is declared a national holiday, which would see the banks being closed altogether. “This arrangement is imperative as it would provide the employees of the member institutions with ample time to exercise their franchise at the polls,” the association stated.

Chapter 1:03 of the Representation of the People Act states: “Every employer shall permit every elector in his employ, other than any elector on whose behalf another elector has been appointed to vote as a proxy, to be absent from his work on election day for a reasonable time, in addition to the normal midday meal hour, for the purpose of voting at the election; and no employer shall make any deduction from pay or other remuneration of any such elector or impose on him or exact from him any penalty by reason of his absence during such period.”