Only parliament can recognise the legitimacy of the ERC

May 31, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I refer to a statement made by one Ramesh Dookoo currently the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) in the Kaieteur news Friday May 27th 2011 captioned, “Private Sector recognises legitimacy of the Ethnic Relations Commission” (ERC).
The statement was made at a function to introduce Mr Donald Ramotar to the private sector.
There are three reasons why Mr. Dookoo should not have made such a statement: –
1. Only parliament can recognise the legitimacy of the ERC. In this case since they have objected to the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO) as not being a legitimate entity to nominate a member of the ERC and a 2/3 majority vote is necessary to do so, and since the opposition have refused to recognise the IRO, the ERC has not been re-constituted and has simply been allowed to continue functioning after its constitutionally due dissolution date.
2. This matter is currently before the court and no one should pronounce on it at this time.
In doing so Dookoo is probably in contempt of court and furthermore he has made a statement which is highly prejudicial to the Main Opposition Party’s case now before a judge in the high courts.
3. Given all of the above one can legitimately ask the question why Dookoo found it necessary to mention this matter at all, given that he was simply introducing Mr. Ramotar to the crowd which had turned out to listen to the PPP’s nominee for president.
I am not going to draw any conclusions from these facts they are self-explanatory.
Let the public decide why this chairman of the PSC found it incumbent on himself to make these unnecessary and prejudicial statements at this crucial time.
Tony Vieira

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News