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The ERC
Kaieteur News – Guyana’s Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) now stands as a disgraced body, one in which Guyanese are seeing their fears proven. It is an entity with sensitive national responsibilities, but one that attracts contempt due to the actions of a member. If a vote were to be taken now, the result would be no-confidence. It is the wrong time for anyone in the ERC to be found wanting, not even trying to separate from the divisive politics that hurts this country’s prospects.
Some members of the ERC may have been caught off guard by their ignorance of who was responsible for the presence of foreign religious personnel invited to address the faithful in a house of worship, who then dips his toe into Guyana’s politics. Not in a general way, which may have been permitted, depending on what was said. What occurred was a very well-orchestrated effort for a foreign invitee to take a side in local politics. It was about who is good for Guyana, and therefore offers the best fit for Guyanese in their pending elections. A space held sacred by believers is violated by the politics of Guyana that dirties every place that it touches. Then, the process is repeated in several other houses of worship in Guyana.
It is obvious that this was not some random development, or a religious scholar speaking in an untutored manner. What occurred had to have had some high backing, some heavyweight clearance, to get such things going. Moreover, some bright people should have known better than to get entrapped. What may be seen as innocent by some as not lacking in controversy is the height of slipperiness. It goes to show how much standards have dropped here, where any thoughtless practice is found acceptable. Whether innocent in the making, or controversial in the delivery, people from the ERC had no grounds to be in the middle of such shabby arrangements. From what is understood, the ERC was not in the middle, but someone in it was in the forefront of piloting that political program forward. The ERC as a body, as well as each individual that makes up its grouping, has a duty to the citizens of Guyana. Each of its members must be disciplined enough to steer a middle ground in Guyana’s politics, and not be seen as favoring one side or the other in local politics.
Unfortunately, given what has occurred in one place of worship, then several others, when ERC people were needed the most to stand above the fray, there was some comfort in dabbling in the gutter politics of Guyana. Now that the ERC has some taint from the recklessness of apparently one of its own, how can it hold itself out as a fair and honest arbiter when local politics drive Guyanese at each other’s throat? Racial hostility that courses through sections of Guyana, and the unending brawls on social media that expose the deep-seated passions and prejudices of domestic politics, demand an ERC at its finest in the expression of nonpartisanship at this time more than any other time.
There are elections pressures building and elections tensions intensifying, in what already has all the ingredients of the mother of all elections. Guyanese elections have never been a time of peace and tranquility, nor of mutual respect. Guyanese elections have left a history of the sordid and the forgettable, except that no one forgets. This year’s elections have already given some indications that they will not be a Sunday afternoon walk in the park. We shouldn’t have to say how vigilant and committed every member of this group must be. It’s one that can trace its power to the Constitution of Guyana, as amended in 2000. Thus armed, the ERC has seemingly turned its back on one of its primary mandates, which is to foster a sense of security among Guyanese, regardless of their ethnicity, notwithstanding the pull of their politics.
When the ERC’s name gets attached to Guyana’s politics, then distrust intrudes. Whoever in the ERC had a hand in bringing a religious speaker selling politics in a religious house must be cut loose, given the boot for the good of all Guyana.
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