The Guyanese society is reflecting the behaviour of its leaders, which is a sad indictment on our nation.
Forty-six years after being granted independence from the rule of Great Britain we cannot celebrate our unanimity and identity as a nation, with a common heritage and unbreakable bonds of sharing of so many things that are too numerous to mention, but foremost among which are acculturation and miscegenation.
The dilemma of mixed families is the racists who see them as not part of the purist cultural equation; thus, a young mixed race girl with grizzled hair, brought up by a Hindu grandmother, who sits down to do a puja, is often viewed as an anomaly, as is a young Indian girl who lives alone with a pure African step-grandfather, whom she adores because he has been the only one who has truly loved her all her life.
In the latter situation the old grandfather’s real grandchildren resent the “coolie upstart” and treats her with absolute disdain, while in the former case, family members of the grandmother thinks she is committing sacrilege by not allowing a “pure” grandchild to perform the puja.
While the foregoing are extreme examples, the issue of race is still a burning quandary that is stymieing our national identity as a Guyanese nation, and that is what gave birth to the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC).
Guyanese in general are not race-conscious and get along well with each other, until the political equation rears its ugly head, then great friends sometimes end up seeing each other as them and us.
The racial divide is skilfully kept open by politicians whose interests lie in distrust between the main races in Guyana.
The fact that Guyanese are willing to be fooled, time and again, and could be encouraged by clever rhetoric to hate fellow Guyanese of another race, to the extent of wanting to harm, even kill innocent persons at the behest of their leaders, is an abhorrent reality in our national psyche and history.
In public institutions there is still need for monitoring of services provided to the public by functionaries who might, rightly or wrongly be accused or be guilty of discriminatory practices against clients of one or another race.
Thus the need for the ERC is real and immediate.  However, the opposition’s budget cuts, which have left that agency with no funds to execute its mandated functions in service to the nation, have once again left this nation without an intercessionary body to address issues of discriminatory practices based on race.
Minister within the Ministry of Finance and Former Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), Bishop Juan Edghill, recently informed the media that the staff members of the Commission are yet to be paid their May salaries. He noted that if an entity doesn’t have money, it is virtually collapsed or brought to a standstill.
In addressing the misconception about the constitutionality of the ERC, Minister Edghill explained that it is not left to dialogue between the president and leader of the opposition or to tripartite talks as the ERC is a constitutional body.
He added that at the time when the combined opposition voted to cut the ERC’s budget, either they were unaware of the constitutional mechanisms for the re-constituting of the ERC, or they were aware and pretended that they could have this remedied using other means or they are on a path to deliberately mislead the Guyanese people.
“The only way you can have a re-constituted ERC is through the constitutional process and it’s not left to backroom wheeling and dealing between the president and the leader of the opposition…it is the entities that produce the commissioners and it is the parliament that must agree to the entities…it is time that the pubic become aware and every politician and political leader start representing this issue correctly to the public and ensure that the constitutional provisions are followed so that they can have a re-constituted ERC,” Minister Edghill said.
Minister Edghill explained that the move by some ERC staff members to hold talks with the AFC’s Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan and APNU’s Leader David Granger was not sanctioned by the commission, as it is an independent entity which executes its operations in such a manner.
“That was an initiative of the staff members who felt threatened…had I been the Leader of the Opposition or the AFC and staff members of the ERC request to meet with me to discuss budget cuts I would have declined,” Minister Edghill said.
By begging the opposition for their jobs, the current commissioners have compromised their positions of impartiality and should ethically remove themselves from the Commission, but the need for the commission to continue functioning is extraneous to that issue, because that need is immediate and real.
Until and unless Guyanese reject the “them and us” syndrome constantly propagated by political parties, this nation would need the Ethnic Relations Commission, albeit with new commissioners whose impartiality cannot be questioned.