The National Assembly on Friday evening approved the appointment of ten nominees to sit on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) which has not been in operation since 2011.
Opposition MP Juan Edghill while signalling his party’s support for the establishment and operationalizing of this body, expressed concern at the length of time it has taken for the House to approve the names given that this has been an item listed on the order paper since last year April.
Those appointed are Dr. John O. Smith, the representative for the Christian Bodies; Sister Rajkumarie Singh for the Hindu Bodies; Roshan Khan for the Muslim Bodies; Norris Emanuel Witter for the Labour Movement Bodies; Major-General (Retd.) Norman Mclean for the Private Sector Organisations; Deodat Persaud for the Youth Organisations; Ruth Howard for the Women’s Organisations and for the Cultural/Ethnic Bodies; Barrington Braithwaite representing Afro-Guyanese; Neaz Subhan representing Indo-Guyanese and Ashton Simon representing Indigenous/ Amerindian Bodies.
“So while we are