THE government has brought the attention of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to what it considers to be a serious breach of the country’s anti-racism law by at least two daily newspapers.
Such breaches by media houses carry severe penalties (a fine of $500,000 and seven years in jail), reflecting the seriousness with which the National Assembly views the promotion of any kind of racial hostility.
ERC Chairman, Bishop Juan Edghill, told this newspaper that the commission and its lawyer were looking into the racial hostility charges levelled against two local newspapers by the Office of the President.
While the public awaits the findings of the ERC on these serious charges against the newspapers, we feel it is crucial that media houses need to carefully guard against being used by those only too eager to advocate race-based politics.
Some breaches of the anti-racism laws may be committed unwittingly, especially in the letters columns where even borderline contributions can slip through because of cursory checks by the editor of the letter pages.
But this is no excuse for the publication of material that can be considered contrary to the laws of Guyana.
Stoking racial tension is not a matter to be trifled with, as can be seen from the terrible tragedies that racial conflicts have visited on several other countries around the world.
Guyana itself was a victim of racial tension when race riots were deliberately engineered by the colonial powers, with the aid of the American CIA, in the early 1960s to unseat the elected government of the day.
Thankfully, Guyana has come a long way since that dark period, and people of different ethnic backgrounds live and travel in peaceful co-existence across the country. There are no racial enclaves in this land and such hard-won gains should be zealously guarded.
Any appeal to racial hostility for narrow political ends must therefore be exposed and dealt with appropriately under the laws of the country, to drive home the message that Guyanese will not again be misled down that deadly road.
According to Bishop Edghill, this is not the first time that such charges have been brought to his attention; that there has been a developing trend towards this end.
He recalled that coming out of a recent ERC Strategic Assessment Project, the matter was brought to his attention by various stakeholders at the grassroots level.
In his letter to the ERC, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon said that within recent days, “certain newspapers have published letters and articles that the Office of the President insists are contrary to the laws of Guyana and warrant the attention of the ERC.”
Copies of the letters and articles were sent to the ERC by the Office of the President, requesting the commission to “discharge its mandate to investigate and pronounce on these forms of unacceptable journalism.”
Dr. Luncheon referred specifically to articles in the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News in which OP is “contending the authors have been promoting racial insecurity, advocating race-based politics and making vile allegations of racist behaviour against members of the government.”
We welcome the assurance from the ERC Chairman that the commission was taking a proactive approach to the situation for this certainly is not a matter to be treated with lightly.