People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) candidate Anil Nandlall has filed a complaint with the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) accusing the Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan of inciting racial hostilities among Guyanese during an appearance on television programme broadcast in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).
Ramjattan appeared on the T&T CCN TV6 Morning Edition on Thursday to speak about the elections situation in Guyana. During the interview, Ramjattan accused the opposition PPP/C of sending racist advertisement to persons who supported the Alliance For Change (AFC) political party in hopes of getting them to defect. Ramjattan noted that the party had recently heard about the ads from the very persons who received them.
“They [the PPP/C] wanted to bring them back home and they sent ads to those persons; we are now hearing about this from the persons themselves…,” Ramjattan stated, before mentioning a specific claim.
In the letter sent to ERC, which was written on behalf of the PPP/C, Nandlall wrote, “It is clear that these words were intended and are capable of inciting racial hostilities amongst the people of Guyana, in particular between the Indo and Afro Guyanese.”
Nandlall added that those words may constitute an offence under the Racial Hostility Act and are not protected by Article 146 of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and free speech.
“In the circumstances, we request that the Commission launches an investigation of this complaint and take such actions that it considers necessary and appropriate against Mr. Ramjattan, immediately,” the letter concluded.
Stabroek News contacted the ERC to confirm whether the commission received the letter and whether it was acting on the complaint. ERC Public Relations Officer Shiv Nandalall stated that he was not certain if anyone at the commission received the letter and would find out. Up to press time no information regarding the letter or a possible investigation was forthcoming.
Attempts to contact Ramjattan for a comment were unsuccessful.
