I WRITE to focus the public’s attention on the important role of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to this country. I do so against the backdrop of a seeming lack of interest on the part of the present Government to prioritise the establishment of the ERC as a matter of foremost national importance. Editor, to say that I am flabbergasted that the ERC is not on the Government’s list of priorities for its first 100 days in office would be putting it mildly. When in Opposition, the current Government used their Parliamentary majority to pressure the PPP/C Government to activate the necessary constitutional arrangements for the re-establishment of the defunct ERC. When members of the ERC were finally elected, the former executive President, for some mysterious reason, failed to swear them in.
This Government’s apparent inertia in putting in place the mechanisms to correct the failure of the former President to formalise the selections for the body that were made by the constituencies involved is unexpected. It is also at variance with their mantra, when on the campaign trail, to foster good governance, transparency, and accountability if elected to office.
This country needs the ERC more than it needs the Telecommunication Bill or the Public Procurement Commission Bill. I say this in all sincerity, because as much as these pieces of legislation are welcome, they would be of little use to anyone if the country implodes through racial strife. I further challenge anyone to argue a contrary view to the opinion that this country is presently like a powder-keg, just waiting to explode from the concentrated heat of racial emotions that have surfaced after the just-concluded elections.
Anecdotal information abounding in the public domain suggests that ethnic considerations, more than any other factor, motivated and dominated citizens’ electoral choices for the just-concluded elections. Just check the figures that came out of each polling station for the two main contesting political parties – PPP/C and APNU+AFC – then check the racial composition of the communities where the polling booths were located, and the nexus is easily established.
Interestingly, this wasn’t by happenstance; it is the result of the decades of historical and political conditioning of the masses that goes way back to the days of colonialism; that tempestuous period of our history during which slavery, indentureship, and ‘apaan-jhat’ politics were spawned.
The evidence is pellucid that over time, this conditioning has had a debilitating effect on race relations in our beloved country. In general, it has insidiously built up seeming impregnable walls of distrust and seething antagonisms between and amongst the racial groupings in our society, but more disastrously, between Guyanese of African and Indian ancestry.
As far back as I can remember, despite our perceived ethnic differences, we, as Guyanese, are not inherently predisposed to hating each other based on ethno-cultural or racial differences. On the contrary, I feel that we only become overly conscious of our differences along racial lines whenever elections are in the air. This phenomenon tells me that the racial problems which bedevil relations between Afro and Indo-Guyanese are rooted in nurture rather than nature.
This reality is further compounded by the fact that our political elite are not by any means shy to overtly mobilise political support along racial lines, spew racist shibboleths, or negatively stereotype other racial groupings in the society in order to capture and ultimately hold on in perpetuity to political office. A pending court matter of national import prevents me from further developing this point, so I will move on.
What I wish to add here, however, is that the elections results have proven, even to the most skeptical amongst us, that our country is deeply divided along racial lines. The elections results have also, to a large extent, generated angst amongst segments of the population that did not vote for the elected Government. They genuinely feel that they will be discriminated against, or otherwise denied equal opportunities to participate in the developmental initiatives to be pursued by the new office-holders. Taking into consideration that voting was mostly along racial lines, it follows logically that instances of actual or perceived discrimination in housing and land allocation, employment, scholarships, community relations, just to name a few areas, are bound to carry distinct racial hues. The question is: How is the Government going to handle these inevitable issues that will arise? My own belief is that the illegal land-grabbing currently taking place across the country, in the wake of the elections, is just an indicator of a larger crisis in race-relations looming on the horizon, which the new Government will have to face head-on within the coming months.
Enter the ERC. The ERC is the constitutional body that was set up some time in 2002 or thereabouts to adjudicate complaints by citizens, organisations, or groups, relating to ethnic incitement, discrimination, or victimisation, and bring lasting resolutions to their real or perceived grievances. In other words, the ERC is the country’s foremost conflict-resolution mechanism for resolving ethnic issues. And, indeed, every conscious Guyanese knows that Guyana has real ethnic issues of the racial kind. These issues have always been there; they simmer beneath the surface, all year round, but predictably erupt during elections periods, along political lines, mainly between Africans and Indians.
I really would like to know what is to become of the ERC? What is the present Government’s thinking on the role of the Commission? I ask these questions in light of the predominance of race in our electoral history, and the Government’s avowal to hold Local Government Elections within its first 100 days in office. Are we going to have Local Government Elections without the ERC? If so, then maybe we did not learn anything from our General Elections.
In closing, I wish to say that there can be no better opportunity for our new President to show his commitment to the fostering of good race relations in the country than to swiftly bring on board the ERC, so that, at least for Local Government Elections, the ERC will be in place to deal condignly with instances of racial incitement similar to those which tainted the just-concluded elections.
It is time! Please, Mr. President! I beseech you to add the ERC to your Government’s list of priorities. The nation is watching.
C. SAMPSON