WERE you in Guyana for the 2020 general and regional elections? Did you witness the events that unfolded the day after the voting finished?
Did you experience what the entire country endured from the day after the close of poll, that would be Tuesday, March 3, 2020 to July 30, when the nightmare came to an end with the final court hearing in which the court ruled that the results of the recount be used as the final declaration for the March 2020 general and regional elections?

If you were, then you would have known that an organisation named the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) was inactive or silent or invisible. What is unforgivable about civil society groups such as the GHRA, is that the derailment of the election results was a five-month journey.

If you were silent for five days or an entire month, you could have redeemed yourself. But March 3, when the assault on the right to vote and have it counted began to July 30, constituted 149 days.
The GHRA, the Guyana-Transparency Institute, Red Thread, In The Diaspora, the Amerindian People’s Association and other civil society groups had 149 days to investigate the destruction of the electoral system and did not do so.

I come now to the use of the word “surreal” in the title of this article. A few times in the past 35 years of column –writing, I would push in a few satirical paragraphs just to bring out emphasis of the main argument in the article.
One of my favourite satirical insertions is drinking hot coffee while reading the newspapers, and a shocking item caught my eyes: the coffee spilt on my leg, burnt it badly and I had to be rushed to the hospital.

Here, once more, is that recurring satirical note. My leg was burnt Sunday morning when I read certain words from a press release from the GHRA carried in the Stabroek News (don’t forget; the Stabroek News always carries the GHRA’s press statements) of Sunday, May 12, on page 15.
The press statement was about a seminar on human rights for civil society groups the GHRA held through a donation by the British High Commission.

I ask you in all honesty, were you drinking hot coffee when you read the following words from the GHRA? “The workshop provided an opportunity for the groups to take a look at themselves and their method of operation….”
Is this country for real? Is Guyana the most surreal nation in the entire world? The GHRA held a seminar in which participants were instructed in the technique of examining themselves and their method of operation?

Can you imagine a rumshop operator constantly accused of noise nuisance by his neighbours shouting down some children playing on the parapet because they are creating too much noise?
Who the GHRA thinks it is fooling? Is the use of those words in the press release intended to be cynical or a joke? Can the GHRA lecture any human on Planet Earth on how to investigate or assess violations of rights?

The press release carried a photo of the participants (whose organisations were not mentioned) and Mr. Mike Mc Cormack, the head of the GHRA. Since its formation in 1978, Mr. Mc Cormack, who is now in his 80s, has headed the GHRA. He has been there at a time when over 60 per cent of our population was not born.

If those persons who attended Mr. Mc Cormack’s seminar read this, then please contact me for an alternative perspective on human rights. My cell is 614-5927 and email is fredkissoon@yahoo.com.
I will take you through a journey of rights violations in Guyana for the past 20 years committed by all kinds of actors cutting across race and class, political affiliation and occupational status and I will show you that the GHRA has been completely absent.

Some people know how to get around. Mr. Mc Cormack got a grant to run his show. Ms. Vanda Radzik-Veira turned up and got to be interviewed in the HARDtalk programme on Guyana’s oil. Then what was a complete shock to me: Ms. Radzik-Veira turned up at the vigil for Palestine last Saturday evening at the seawall esplanade.

I kept staring at the programme guide as the items went on because all the speakers were listed as representing their respective churches and organisations. But Ms. Radzik-Veira was merely listed as a civil society activist.
How did this lady end up there? Here is a thought of mine. Some young people have been doing admirable work for the Palestinians in Guyana. Could one of the western embassies give them a grant to help them in their work? I end on an emotional note: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.