THE  racially charged statements made recently by ACDA’s executive member, Tacuma Ogunseye, calling for shared governance and if this is not implemented then moves would be made to shut the country down,  is a worrisome one and could not have come at a worse time because we are in the electioneering season when political tensions run high.

Such recklessness must be vehemently condemned by all decent-minded citizens and political parties. What Mr. Ogunseye is advocating is certainly an anachronistic and retrograde step which will result in destruction and anarchy in our society that has been slowly healing from the political turbulence of the 1960s.

One of the more damaging statements made by Mr. Ogunseye is  his calling on the Afro-dominated security forces to side with those in the battle for shared governance. This is a grim reminder of former President and Leader of the PNCR, Desmond Hoyte, speaking about “kith and kin” during the disturbances of 1997 aimed at removing Mrs. Janet Jagan from the presidency.

It is therefore encouraging to note that the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) has responded swiftly to this dangerous development and has indicated that the matter will be thoroughly investigated.

The ERC said it has noted with some amount of apprehension, an article published in Monday’s edition of this newspaper  under the caption: “ACDA reads ‘riot act’ for power–sharing if opposition loses”.
The Commission, in a statement, said it has since launched an investigation into the statements alleged to have been made by ACDA’s executive member, Tacuma Ogunseye.
The ERC warned that it will not shirk its constitutional responsibility to summon Ogunseye and have him “explain the implications of his unambiguous call for racial insurrection in Guyana.”
The ERC said it will be engaging Ogunseye as it relates to “some of the more racially inciting statements” allegedly made, and its technical persons are currently analyzing these statements to determine whether they infringe on the law as it relates to the Representation of the People Act and the Racial Hostility Act.
The ERC said it does not want to appear to be pre-emptively judgmental on the issue, since the matter has to be first investigated and Ogunseye given a fair hearing to determine his innocence or guilt.
“However, if the statements reported are indeed the verbatim record of Ogunseye’s remarks, then the Commission will not shirk its constitutional responsibility to summon Mr. Ogunseye and have him explain the implications of his unambiguous call for racial insurrection in Guyana,” the ERC warned.
On the other hand, did it occur to Ogunseye that the question of shared governance cannot happen at the behest of a few persons who are desperately trying to make it appear as though they are the true representatives of a section of the Guyanese people?
Whether we have shared governance will have to be determined by the entire Guyanese nation.
Did it also occur to Mr. Ogunseye that there are other minority ethnic groups in Guyana and what about if they begin calling for their constituencies to share power as well?
Is Mr. Ogunseye aware that in most countries there are minority groups, but you do not hear calls for shared governance.
In Zimbabwe, for example, the minority whites are under subjugation of Mugabe’s rule but they are not calling for shared governance, even though they are contributing significantly to the economy of the country.
However, Mr. Ogunseye’s agenda is clear and his outlandish and provocative calls are not surprising, because everyone would remember his open support for the criminals who were holed out in Buxton, branding them freedom fighters.
PPP/C presidential candidate, Donald Ramotar sums it up well when he told the Chronicle on Monday that the latest threat and unambiguous call for racial insurrection in Guyana by the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) has come as “no surprise.” Ramotar also addressed the proclivity by the People’s National Congress (PNC) to ramp up the crime wave in attempts to derail successive PPP/C governments, as well as ACDA’s threat to take to the streets to enforce shared governance on a PPPC administration after the 2011 elections.
“From since [the] 2002 jailbreak, and even before that, also taking into consideration  Blackie’s funeral, when the entire PNC apparatus was used in that funeral arrangement, and making him a hero, suggested to me a very close link with the PNC and the criminal gangs,” Ramotar declared.

President Bharrat Jagdeo also told the Chronicle that “all Guyanese should reject this rhetoric” by Ogunseye and ACDA.
“It is rhetoric of the past. It is a rhetoric based on narrow interests and it comes from people who do not represent anyone, but want to be part of a power structure through the back door,” Mr. Jagdeo declared.

“ACDA has been and will remain a fringe organization. I do not think that most Guyanese share their views. They surface at elections time, they are not mainstreamed and so they do not represent the views of the majority of the people in this country,” the President told this newspaper.
“Nevertheless, they should be taken seriously and I hope that the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) would pay close attention to this,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

It would be interesting to see how the opposition political parties respond to Mr. Ogunseye. So far, there has been a deafening silence from them and we would hope that the Guyanese people would not have to interpret this silence as approval of Ogunseye’s  racially provocative advocacy.