‘ERC to ramp up monitoring’
Ethnic Relations Commissioner, Norris Witter (Delano Williams photo)
Ethnic Relations Commissioner, Norris Witter (Delano Williams photo)

…warns parties against sowing seeds of division’
…says code of conduct yet to be signed on to

THE Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has warned political parties contesting the 2020 General and Regional Elections against being “mechanisms for division” as, in the worst case, this could see them being charged and placed before the courts.

As March 2, 2020 rapidly approaches, local political parties are climbing a steep ladder towards the peak of political campaigning of what has been dubbed the “mother of all elections” for the country. Ahead of the date, the ERC has deployed its Monitoring Unit which will be closely monitoring the media and will go as far as to attend public meetings. The Commission has also asked parties to sign on to a Code of Conduct set to guide their behaviour but the initiative has not yet received the expected response.

On Friday at the Cara Lodge, the ERC held a press conference which updated the media on the incidents reported thus far, concerns of the Commission and the steps it will take to address them. “As the campaigns for the various political parties continue in the run-up to the March 2, General and Regional Elections, the Ethnic Relations Commission remains concerned over reported incidents of intimidation and abuse meted out the party officials while they were engaged in activities to sensitise on political messages reflective of the parties they represent,” ERC Chairman, Dr. John Smith said.

“The Commission is also concerned about the use of language that can be considered as combative and disrespectful to the point of even being threatening in some instances…the call for the upcoming elections to be transparent, free of hate, violence and racial or any other forms of incitement, is firmly reiterated.”

Commissioner Major-General (Ret’d), Norman Mclean (Delano Williams photo)

He reminded the general public that the freedoms enshrined within the country’s Constitution allow each Guyanese the democratic right to freely associate with a political party of his/her choice.

Meanwhile, ERC Commissioner, Norris Witter told media operatives that the breaching of the Representation of the People Act and the Racial Hostility Act could result in fines, imprisonment and could even see a political party being removed from the political process by recommendation to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

However, the Commissioners established that current political situation is not at such a poor level even as Witter reminded that whether mediation or prosecution is applied depends on the seriousness of the complaint. Explaining this further, Commissioner Major-General (Ret’d), Norman Mclean said: “Our approach is that we want to resolve everything by mutual agreement. We don’t want prosecution as the main course of action so that everybody who does – however small a violation –that we will prosecute. We are looking to find peace, good order and harmony.”

To re-establish its message, the Commission has corresponded with the 11 political parties contesting in the elections requesting that they give their input on a draft Code of Conduct crafted or sign-on if no objections exist. “We, as the Ethnic Relations Commission, have crafted one [a Code of Conduct] which we’ve sent to all the parties and I believe we only had one response. We’re still waiting [and] it’s still a work in progress in that regard,” Mclean said.

“Certainly we have engaged them and asked for them to be reasonable to understand that we don’t want confusion and we want to have tolerance; we want to have good, harmonious relations.” The Commission is awaiting the outstanding responses at least by Monday, January 20, 2020.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); the Guyana National Broadcasting Agency (GNBA) and ERC had expressed plans to join efforts to monitor the country’s airwaves during the elections period.

However, Sub-committee Chairman, Neaz Mohamed Subhan, updated that the ERC has engaged both agencies in this regard but there is yet to be a formal structure put in place. The ERC’s Code of Conduct is therefore separate from the pending collaboration.

Questioned about the number of monitors at the ERC’s disposal, Subhan said that the figure is “adequate” and that these individuals are constantly being trained for improvement. Added to this, the ERC has applied to GECOM for accreditation as a local observer to monitor the Election Day process.

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