Dear Editor,
In the Electoral Assistance Bureau’s Final Report on the 1997 General Elections, I observed that the ethnic composition of the National Registration Centre was very lopsided, and expressed the hope that some time in the near future, we might select people for office based purely on qualifications and not on ethnicity.
I was full of expectation that this new government would have been the first to establish this new political culture. However I couldn’t help noticing that 80% of the recently announced thirty-five chairmanship positions to state boards have been filled by non-Indo-Guyanese.
This development, preceded by the composition of the latest national awardees, makes one wonder as to the promise of inclusivity and promotion of racial unity. I doubt the government has deliberately set out on such a divisive course, but this only serves to lend credence to the PPPC’s pre-election warning of race politics by APNU+AFC.
Our government ought to realise that in politics, perception is reality. And whether supporters or not, we need to keep them mindful of that.
Yours faithfully,
Clairmont Lye
