Citing incidents of “intimidation, abuse and assault” during political party campaign activities, the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) yesterday issued a call for an immediate end to hostilities in the lead up to and after the March 2nd polls, while announcing plans to re-engage the country’s political leadership on the situation.
“The Commission calls for an immediate cessation of all hostilities during and after this campaign period and reminds that the welfare of our dear country and its people is in the hands of all. So is peace, during and after the process,” the ERC said in a statement yesterday.
While ERC’s statement did not identify any specific incident, the opposition PPP/C wrote the Police Commissioner just over a week ago seeking an investigation of alleged attacks on its campaigners. Police also had cause to initiative an investigate of an incident at Laing Avenue, where PPP/C supporters were prevented from proceeding through the community in a party-branded vehicle by residents, who were abusive towards them.
The ERC said hostilities are counterproductive to the efforts being made to foster unity and harmony and added that they have no place in our society and must be condemned.
Against this background, it reiterated the need for the periods before and after the elections to be free of “hate, violence and racial or any other form of incitement.”
The body noted that at the beginning of the year, it had publicly voiced its expectation for peaceful and transparent elections in keeping with democratic principles.
“That desire remains foremost and the Commission urges all to act responsibly and to demonstrate an unwavering sense of tolerance and respect for each other,” it said. “Our freedoms are enshrined, allowing each and every Guyanese the democratic right to freely associate and support a political party of his/her choice and to engage in lawful activities concomitant with election campaigning. That must be respected,” it added.
Following its reconstitution in 2018, the ERC met engaged leaders and representatives of various political Parties, including President David Granger and Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo, and mutual sentiments for peace and unity were expressed.
Further, in the run-up to the 2018 local government elections, it wrote all Members of Parliament in an effort to remind of the importance of keeping the campaigns and other interactions, including social media, free of any utterance which could impact negatively on national harmony and good relations amongst Guyanese.
The body said that following those engagements, there were expectations for the realisation of those mutual desires for peace. However, it said utterances made by public officials, including “giving jobs only to my people”, “chase them out” and “war break”, undermined efforts to promote harmony and the effects are still being felt. The utterances were made by two government ministers and the opposition leader.
The ERC said it firmly believes that incidents of harassment, the removal of party flags and prevention of persons from mounting same, social media incitement and attacks, including those on some performing artistes, propagation of religious preference, referencing Guy-anese by ethnicity as tokenism and the alleged stereotyping of ethnic groups, are unhelpful to building and sustaining a cohesive nation.
The ERC also noted that while it is constitutionally-mandated to promote harmony and good relations, the task can only be realised through the collective efforts of all Guyanese.
As a result, it commended those, including public officials, who expressed disapproval of some of the offensive instances it has noted.
Additionally, it also issued an appeal to all involved for a collective effort to be amicable in disagreement, to work in the best interest of Guyana and Guyanese, to build upon the bonds of togetherness and to ensure that the elections are not catalysts for division.
The Commission also said that it would in the near future embark on initiatives to examine inherent causes of current suspicions and stereotypes and explore possible mitigating measures. Guided by its constitutional parameters in the discharge of its mandate, it said it would also endeavour to re-engage the political leadership while monitoring the current situation.
