Dear Editor,
I take this opportunity to respond to an article that was published on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 under the title “ERC clarifies misinformation about delegation to UN Forum”.
I think the article is misleading in its attempt to justify the objectionable actions of a few persons in the ERC. I also reject the attempt to castigate the African organisations by labelling their efforts to address legitimate concerns as “an attempt to smear the name of the Commission and cause division between the various ethnic groups in our country”.
To begin, the letter that was sent to the media and published on March 11, 2025 was not endorsed by any Commissioner on the board of the ERC. On March 5, the CEO of the ERC, Ms Gomin Camacho, sent a draft of the letter to the whatsapp group of the Commissioners for no objection. The Commissioners refused to pronounce on the draft letter, and after five days, Ms. Camacho, either on her own accord or under the influence of an external entity, decided to send the letter to the media. This was the latest in a series of similar actions where letters were sent to the media without a no-objection from the board.
Moving on to the issues raised in the letter. The main perceived intent of the CEO’s letter was to support her contention that the African organisations should not object to the ERC sending non-Africans to represent African Guyanese concerns at an international African forum, because there were no objections by the ERC’s board of commissioners on two occasions; namely, in 2024 with Commissioner Neaz Subhan and now in 2025 with Commissioner Ashton Simon.
This is utterly false. There were discussions and objections among the commissioners in both 2024 and 2025 on the particular point of contention, because objections were raised by the African Guyanese community since 2023, when the Chairman of the ERC, Commissioner Moen ul Hack, was chosen, not by the ERC, as one of the two representatives from the ERC that would form part of a larger government delegation to the 2nd UN Permanent Forum held in New York. This was the only time that there were no heated discussions by the board of commissioners about who should represent the ERC at the forum, because we did not have the money to send anyone on our own. We were informed by the Chairman how many representatives from the ERC the Government was willing to fund, and who they would be.
The fact that objections were raised since 2023 and the ERC subsequently repeated its actions in 2024 and 2025 can be seen as provocative, and portrays a certain level of insensitivity and contempt on the part of some in the ERC for the concerns of one of the major racial groups in this country, the African Guyanese community. Apart from the CEO’s letter, which accuses the African representative organizations of attempting to cause division among the various ethnic groups in our country because they have expressed publicly legitimate concerns – which they have a right to do under the mandate of the ERC – I will add two more examples to prove my point.
Last year, during the national discussion of the use of the word “Negro” by the State, the commissioners of the ERC took a unanimous statutory decision to hold a consultation with the representatives of the African Guyanese community on a consensus nomenclature to replace the word “Negro”. To date, the CEO has not made any move to implement the decision of the commissioners. In addition to this, last year one of our senior staff resigned, citing, among other things, overwhelming racial discrimination against African Guyanese by her department in executing its work. The commissioners, to date, have not seen the report of her exit interview.
This is just the tip of the iceberg; however, I’m hoping that it is enough to encourage the commissioners to take back the ERC, put aside partisan political interests, and remember the oath that we took to bear true faith and allegiance to the People of Guyana.
There is the perception that there is increasing social tension in an environment of racial, ethnic and political polarisation that is unprecedented in post-independence Guyana. We are heading towards a precipice, and the ERC has a critical role to play in ensuring we do not go over the edge. It is imperative that we get our act together soonest.
Sincerely,
Ras Khafra
ERC Commissioner
