A small group of representatives from a number of Afro-Guyanese organisations picketed in front of the Parliament Buildings on Monday to register their objection to the presence of the Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), Shaikh Moeenul Hack, at the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, which opened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday morning.

The group strongly objected to Hack – an Indo Guyanese – representing Afro-Guyanese at the Permanent Forum.

Elton McRae – who was among those on the picket line today – questioned why Commissioner Ras Khafra is not representing the ERC at the Permanent Forum.

“Can’t Africans represent themselves at these forums or it is that the ERC is going there to propagate government’s lies about what they are doing for the African community. So, they cannot be speaking for us, Mr Hack is not speaking in my name,” McRae told News Source.

Adding his voice to the issue, Royston Peters told News Source that he is of the opinion that the Chairman of the ERC is not sufficiently apprised of the issues confronting Afro-Guyanese in Guyana and is therefore unfit to represent Afro-Guyanese at the 4^th Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

He said the Permanent Forum is taking place at the start of the Second International Decade of People of African Descent, and Afro-Guyanese should have been appropriately represented.

“Mr Hack or the ERC is not sufficiently aware of the issues we have been fighting to correct in this country. So, he is ill prepared to present any of us at the forum. He can’t speak for us. As a matter of fact, he was there at one of the earlier forums, either the first or the second and he totally misrepresented the fact. He said Africans in Guyana are okay, everything is alright with us. That’s a total lie,” Peters said.

He said through a democratic process in the National Assembly, Ras Khafra was nominated and subsequently appointed to represent the Afro-Guyanese community on the ERC, and therefore, should have been given the opportunity to be present at the Forum.

Sister Penda Guyan echoed similar sentiments, telling News Source that the situation is upsetting.

“I am really upset because I find that for something that affects us, this is the forum for people of African descent, and I feel that at such a forum we should be representing ourselves, we should not have anyone of another ethnicity representing us. If it were an issue affecting the Guyanese nation as a whole that would have been acceptable because you know, we could represent the country, anybody can. But when it comes to something that is specific to African people, I think it is only fair that we should represent ourselves, and not have anybody else represent us. Because this came off of the Decade for People of African Descent and we are now promised a second decade because in the first decade nothing much was achieved, if at all,” Guyan said.

Guyan said the Permanent Forum presents an opportunity for Afro-Guyanese to tell their stories, and to address the challenges confronting them.

Norris Witter, who is representing the Trade Union Movement on the ERC, said he was nominated to represent the ERC at the Permanent Forum, but declined the nomination because he felt it reprehensible for the ERC Chair to lead the delegation, and secondly, out of concern that the Government was bearing part of the costs for the trip.

He said as an independent organization, the ERC should have stood the cost to attend the Permanent Forum.

The ERC has stated that at a Statutory Meeting in January, Norris Witter and Ashton Simon were nominated to represent the ERC at the Forum.

However, both Witter and Simon withdrew. The ERC said it stands committed to promoting harmony and good relations among all citizens of Guyana.

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