–McCormack claims, says he has not seen the direct statements owing to involvement in other matters

ALTHOUGH the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has voiced concerns on topical issues over the past week, Head of the association, Mike McCormack has said that the organisation has not apprised itself of the situation surrounding racially inflammatory remarks made by Working People’s Alliance (WPA) member, Tacuma Ogunseye, last Thursday.

Several organisations from the business and religious communities, including the Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Guyana Pandit’s Council, Guyana Central Arya Samaj, Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana and the Guyana Inter Religious Organization (IRO) have issued official statements condemning what has been described as hateful and racist remarks made by Ogunseye.

However, the GHRA’s voice on the issue has been noticeably missing. There have been calls from members of the public for the GHRA and other civil society organisations that are often vocal to add their voices to the issue.

In a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday, McCormack acknowledged that he is aware of the issue, coming across it in the news; however, he maintained that he did not want to make official remarks on behalf of the GHRA.

“I haven’t actually read any of it, I’ve been involved with other things. I haven’t actually seen the statement, but from all the cursory comments from other people and looking at the headlines [in the news] it does seem to be objectionable statements. If the statements contained all the language have been repeated, to me that’s clearly objectionable,” McCormack related.

He said the GHRA as a collective has not looked into the matter to make a pronouncement on the issue.

“Although it sounds to be very objectionable, there is a procedure in the GHRA about contacting people to make statements. Apart from just [a] cursory look at headlines about leaders that have rejected the statement, it is very objectionable, but I am not making this a statement from the GHRA,” McCormack said.

It has been widely reported that during a recent public meeting, among other things, Ogunseye said: “I don’t understand how people complain that they are oppressed and they are holding guns in their hands. They are the majority in the army, in the police, and they say they are oppressed. And they still say our problem is our own making. Anytime we turn those guns in the right direction it is over.”