Bona fides of civil society groups needed

Dec 07, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I have noted the calls from many persons; particularly, the recent one by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, for the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) to make known to the public information regarding its membership (aside from Mike McCormack), its funding, and what mechanisms are employed to select its leadership.
I support this call and I think it should be extended to all of the other civil society organisations whose pronouncements of late on matters of national importance have dominated a particular section of the media sphere and are thus given much weight.
In the interest of transparency, the public needs to know who these organisations speak for, who their membership consists of, how they obtain their funding and how it is spent, how one becomes a member, and how their leadership is selected. We need to know their expertise on the particular subject matter, which they are speaking on and whether or not they have the support of those whom they claim to speak on behalf of, and are not merely driven by self-interest.
It cannot just be a case where any Tom, Dick, or Harry can issue a press release, which is then elevated as expert opinion or the views of a large cross-section of the Guyanese society by special interest media enablers. Guyanese have to demand from these civil society groups the same type of transparency as it relates to their own operations, that they demand from the government and others.
Thank you,
Thomas Cole

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