Dear Editor,
BY his admission, Aubrey Norton has spent a lifetime in politics and should surely know that the leadership of the People’s National Congress is an important office in our country; it is therefore bewildering to witness the level of ignorance Norton demonstrates with his threats to the Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh (R’td). “And there are many things we can do to put the pressure on the elections commission and Claudette Singh. But we had first given her the opportunity to tender her resignation as a decent judge.” Claudette Singh’s response to Norton was succinct but the silence of ‘civil society organisations begs for explanation’.

Any ‘fit and proper’ legally appointed GECOM Chair cannot be removed from office except by choosing to resign or death; it is much the same as a Supreme Court Justice in the United States and in my opinion, a threat to Chairman Singh should be treated with the same seriousness as one to a US Supreme Court Judge. In a world’s first and much to the surprise of many, Policy Forum has self-anointed itself an ‘umbrella body’ for NGOs in Guyana; this clears up the sharing of address and phone numbers with that body and McCormack’s GHRA and The Ursuline Sisters and maybe the collective/selective silence of these organisations on Norton’s threat to GECOM’s Chair and by extension, Democracy in Guyana.

Many are quick to take offence at criticism of ‘Civil Society’ organisations and label this as attacking the messenger, or in a case like this the lack of message, but bias must be called out and silence often speaks volumes. Consider what the response from these ‘impartial’ organisations would be if the PPP/C responded to Norton’s threats with a strong statement of defence such as “touch one hair on the Chair’s head” … need I say more?

Editor, every election cycle sees the emergence of new and/or dormant political parties, all eager to contest for various reasons, it is odd that none of these groups of concerned citizens has seen fit to condemn the PNC’s Norton; wither the party of doctors or hotel proprietors? Wither Ralph and Timmy?

There may be no glamorous self-serving photo ops in standing up for/with GECOM’s Chair on this occasion but the value of this vital autonomous agency to democratic freedom in Guyana should not be judged by such frivolous yardsticks. Political activism is not only about elections and aspiring to office, it should be about making Guyana a better place for all to live, without threats from Aubrey Norton or anyone else.

Yours sincerely,
Robin Singh