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Robert Corbin and a big lie perpetrated on the Guyanese people

Feb 07, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

On Thursday, I called the head of the UNDP in Guyana, Mr. Tinguria (hope I got his name right) to suggest that he seek legal opinion on the constitutional status of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) because the ERC continues to get funding from the UNDP. I informed Mr. Tinguria that the Leader of the Opposition has declared the ERC illegal and the PNC refuses to cooperate with it.
Mr. Tinguria invited me to his office. I declined on the reason that it wasn’t necessary; all Mr. Tinguria has to do is contact Mr. Corbin. At this point, Mr. Tinguria got worked up and accused me of instructing him. He let me know that on the occasions he met with Mr. Corbin, the Opposition Leader never ventilated his party’s accusation of the illegal status of the ERC and is not aware that the ERC is unconstitutional. I informed the UNDP boss that the TUC is a Commissioner of the ERC and I represent the TUC when the ERC meets with labour.
I immediately sought out Mr. Corbin. He asked for time to check his record to see if he was ever in confabulation with the UNDP head. He came on the phone later and said he never met the diplomat. But Corbin did say that he was nonplussed at Mr. Tinguria’s assertion that he did not know about the lapse of the ERC’s life. Later that day, Mr. Corbin forwarded to the UNDP all the PNC documents on its policy on the ERC’s illegality. Later that day, TUC President, Norris Witter and I decided that the TUC was entitled to the report compiled by UNDP consultant, Lawrence Latchmansingh on how the Guyanese people perceive the ERC.
Witter was told by the CEO of the ERC, Mrs. Langevine that she was instructed by Bishop Edgehill not to have the document made available because it is private and cannot be released to the TUC. The Guyanese people need to know that the TUC is one of the Commissioners of the ERC. If the report was done for the ERC, how can one of its representatives be refused a study that was done for it? Who or what then comprises the ERC?  Back to the UNDP head. He told me that if I need the consultant’s report he would forward it. Mr. Witter then requested the paper from Mr. Trevour Benn of the UNDP. Shockingly, Mr. Benn informed the TUC that the ERC was uncomfortable with some of Latchmansingh’s findings, requested a re-working, it was refused and thus the study has been shelved.
The question that has to be asked is who demanded the change? Bishop Edgehill or the ERC? We again need to stress that the ERC is a set of Commissioners representing religion, culture, ethnic communities, business and labour. Bishop Edgehill is merely one of the Commissioners and the Chairman. I contacted a friend, Clinton Urling of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce to ascertain the whereabouts of the Latchmansingh study. This writer has continuously emphasized the point that the ERC as a body of Commissioners has not formally met for over three years. It is important to note that this aspect of the ERC’s failure has to be separated from its lapsed mandate.
Matters have taken a turn for the worse. If the PNC holds to the opinion that the ERC no longer is valid because its lacks parliamentary approval (and the AFC feels the same way), then the PNC has to intervene with GECOM on its impeding relation with the ERC. GECOM’s Chairman met with Bishop Edgehill last week to iron out election monitoring arrangement. GECOM cannot be oblivious to the concern of the PNC and AFC. And what about Commissioner Vincent Alexander?
Mr. Alexander is a learned mind. He has training in law. It is for him to study the constitutional status of the ERC and advise the Chairman. The Chairman himself ought to seek legal advice on the ERC’s life. There are three lawyers seeking to be President – Messrs James Bond and Basil Williams of the PNC and Khemraj Ramjattan from the AFC. Surely, these men owe it to the Guyanese people to test the legal status of the ERC in court. My view is that the ERC does not exist in two ways. It has not got a statutory edifice, meaning its Commissioners have not been meeting. Secondly, the organization does not have parliamentary sanction. In the meantime, the TUC may seek an injunction restraining the ERC from its questionable functions. The ERC is perpetrating a lie on this nation.

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