The ERC

After months of consultations and back-and-forth, the National Assembly, last week, approved 10 persons from various organisations to serve as members of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC). The new members include Dr John O. Smith from the Christian bodies; Sister Rajkumarie Singh representing the Hindu bodies; and Roshan Khan from the Muslim bodies. The Labour Movement bodies nominated Norris Emanuel Witter as their representative; the Private Sector Organisations’ representative is Major-General (Retd.) Norman McLean, while the Youth Organisations are represented by Deodat Persaud and the Women Organisations by Ruth Howard. Additionally, the Cultural and Ethnic bodies appointed Barrington Braithwaite as their representative for Afro-Guyanese; Neaz Subhan represents Indo-Guyanese; and Ashton Simon represents Indigenous and Amerindian bodies.
Now that this process has been completed, from the way it looks, the long-awaited Commission could be fully functional in a matter of days; all that is left to be done is for President David Granger to officially swear in the members, as is required by the Constitution. This is indeed good news for the entire country, as, for some time now, stakeholders had been calling on the relevant authorities to do what is takes to ensure that this important constitutional body becomes fully functional.
The Commission has been virtually dysfunctional since 2011, when then Opposition Leader Robert Corbin secured an injunction against the body, barring the Chairman and two Commissioners from taking any decision, making any recommendation, or issuing any direction on behalf of the constitutional body.
Once it is re-established, this would be the country’s second ERC, replacing the first which was formed on March 8, 2002. The first ERC was chaired by Bishop Juan Edghill (who was the Christian representative), and its tenure constitutionally expired in 2006. From then right up to 2015, an inordinate period of time during which the country saw the running off of two General Elections (viz in 2011 and 2015), no new Commission was established to replace the first Commission, which, over time, became mired in a host of issues, such as court matters instigated by the main parliamentary Opposition, challenging the organisation’s constitutionality; loss of membership through attrition – resignations, deaths, illnesses, and migration – resulting in the lack of a decision-making quorum; and, to some extent, a loss of public trust and confidence in the organisation’s credibility.
Subsequently, after the results of the 2011 general and regional elections transformed the PPP/C into a minority government, the framework for a new ERC was agreed to in 2013 between the Government and then parliamentary Opposition parties APNU and AFC. At that time, it was consensually agreed by the Government and the Opposition parties to add 3 more constituents – namely, the ethnic representatives of the country’s African, East Indian, and Amerindian peoples – to the original mix of representatives, thus increasing the total number of elected members from 7 to 10. The process to select the nominees for the new Commission concluded in 2014, and the names of those selected were made public. But, for some inexplicable reason, they were never sworn-in as Commissioners.
It must be noted, too, that not long after the Coalition Government gained political power, it established the Social Cohesion Ministry, albeit with similar functions to those of the ERC. Many had questioned the relevance of this particular ministry, especially considering the fact that an autonomous body, the ERC, was tasked with a similar mandate with backing from the constitution. It is therefore left to be seen how these two organisations would relate to each other; more particularly, if they would duplicate functions or step into each other’s turf.
It is worthwhile to mention that the ERC is a constitutional body established under the Herdmanston Accord. It works with persons and agencies to promote harmonious ethnic relations. The Commission also deals with complaints, promotes training in racial harmony, and fosters a sense of security among all ethnic groups.
The ERC is probably the most powerful of all the rights commissions established in this country after Independence. It has an extremely important role to play in national unity and development. The President should therefore move with haste in swearing in the commissioners as soon as possible, so that they could commence their work.