The National Assembly on Monday night unanimously agreed to increase the membership of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) from seven to ten, in order to make room for representatives of cultural and ethnic organisations.
The motion, brought to the House by APNU MP Dr. George Norton, was debated before it was endorsed.
In addition to the nominees from the cultural and ethnic organisations, the ERC will be composed of one nominee each from the Christian Religion, the Hindu Religion, the Muslim Religion, the Labour Movement, the Private Sector organisations, Youth organisations and Women’s organisations.
Dr. Norton told the National Assembly that there was some urgency to establish the ERC since its life has expired.
According to Dr. Norton, it was decided by the Appointive Committee of the National Assembly to increase the ERC’s membership from seven to ten by adding representatives from cultural/ethnic organisations. In this category, he said, there would be three nominees—one for each of the three largest ethnic groups (Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese and Indigenous-Guyanese). The committee, he said, also decided to place entities which fall under the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) under the three major religious bodies. He explained that Committee wrote to four religious bodies that were unclassified, including the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha’is of Guyana, to ascertain the category in which they prefer to be included in order to select nominees for the commission. He said that based on the responses, the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha’is of Guyana was one of two entities excluded.
Meanwhile, government MP Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that previously there was flexibility to allow as many organisations as possible to participate but for the first time there are now certain basic eligibility requirements for these groups. “This is the work that we started many years ago…,” he said. He noted that it is still intended to be as flexible as possible to allow as many people to participate but “we do require some basic eligibility… for the NGOs to participate.”
He noted that they have worked long and hard to get things to where they are today. He said that once the motion is approved, then the commission can go ahead with the important work that it was mandated to do.
AFC MP Valerie Garrido-Lowe said that reaching the consensual agreement was a slow and tedious process as the previous lists of legitimate religious bodies, the labour movement, the private sector, youth bodies and women bodies had to be carefully scrutinised.
She said that as a result, hundreds of letters were sent out to these bodies and the responses were slow despite the fact that a deadline had been given. She said that because of the responses received, a new list was prepared.
Garrido-Lowe stressed that there is a need for an expanded ERC in the face of the country’s history of racial issues.
Government representative Gail Teixeira said that this is a major step forward for the ERC, while also noting that quite a few commissions had expired in 2013. “We have a lot of work to do this year and I hope this is the beginning…,” she stressed.
The proposals for the ERC were contained in the ‘First Report of the Committee on Appointments in Relation to the Appointment of Members of the Ethnic Relations Commission’. They came as a result of 16 meetings held between March 16th 2012 and November 13 last year.
The committee comprised 8 members: A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) MPs George Norton (chairman), Amna Ally, Deborah Backer and Annette Ferguson; People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) MPs Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Dr Frank Anthony, Juan Edghill and Gail Teixeira; and Alliance for Change (AFC) MP Valerie Garrido-Lowe.
The history of the ERC, a body created by virtue of constitutional amendments, has been a conflict ridden one. For example, the PPP/C and the opposition were unable to, between 2007 and the Ninth Parliament, arrive at a consensus on the list of entities to invite to submit nominees for appointment to the ERC.
As a result, the government moved that then President Bharrat Jagdeo take note of the situation and that he extend the life of the commission beyond its 2007 life span. The government, still in possession of the majority seating in the National Assembly, passed the motion and the life of the pre-2007 ERC persisted, despite the opposition’s protests.
In 2010, the PNCR called for a boycott of the ERC. The boycott was issued as a response to an invitation by the body to stakeholders to assess its work. According to the party, the invitation was the “latest manoeuvre of the unconstitutional ERC and its chairman to justify their existence.”
Further, then PNCR Leader Robert Corbin in 2011 challenged the extension of the ERC’s existence by way of an ex parte injunction. His argument was that the constitution shows that the President has no locus standi in the matter, and that the move to extend the life of the ERC was unconstitutional, and null and void.
During the 2012 debates of the budgetary estimates, the opposition parties slashed allocations intended to the ERC to $1, arguing that the body, as it was constituted at that time, was not legal and therefore undeserving of the funds allocated to it. A subsequent ruling by Chief Justice Ian Chang ordered that the amounts for this constitutional body be restored.
