Civil Society needs to pursue Electoral Reform independently of political parties

Dec 03, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Minister Nandlall’s most recent invective against the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on his FB page appears to have been triggered by the GHRA’s proposal that electoral problems in Guyana run deeper than the mayhem and turmoil associated with the 2020 elections. According to the social media news service, Newsroom, the Minister questioned the membership, financing and political orientation of the GHRA.
The flimsiness of his allegations about the GHRA do not merit a reply from the GHRA, they can all be answered from information already in the public domain. The results of GHRA elections are issued in press releases; GHRA modest accounts are audited; the GHRA Board comprises a majority of persons under thirty years of age. Apart from being normal requirements of a democratic society such vigilance has served the GHRA against malicious attacks from disgruntled politicians and journalists since its inception over forty years ago.
The more significant feature of the Minister’s attack is what it reveals about the prevailing attitude to civic organisations. Apparently the four press releases issued by the GHRA over the 2020 period of electoral unrest (Feb. 20th); March 6th,, March 28th, June 15th ) did not sufficiently vilify APNU, the major Opposition Party. (See also GHRA PR 21 May, 2021.) The releases focused on calling on the GECOM Chair to use her ample powers to issue a casting vote and bring the whole fiasco to an end.
Presumably the criterion of dividing the sheep from the goats according to their perceived position on the 2020 elections applies to other organisations (and individuals?) as well. This level of partisan prejudice does nothing to foster confidence in the on-going Representation of the People Act (RoPA) consultation.
In light of this reality civic organisations would do well to remember that in electoral reform matters while the major parties will skirmish about details (such as RoPA amendments), their track record for fundamental reform is abysmally poor. The civic response to this state of affairs should be to invest time and effort in creating a strong civic position around agreed reforms. Meaningful civic engagement with party political sectors as a whole would then be possible.

Executive Committee
Guyana Human Rights Association

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