Dear Editor,
I read with great interest the Ethnic Relations Commission’s (ERC) recent statement, which appeared less like a response to public concern and more like a public relations brochure. While the Commission took pains to outline school visits, cricket matches, and colourful initiatives, it carefully sidestepped the central issue raised in my earlier letter — the troubling perception of bias and unequal accountability within its own ranks.
The ERC lists numbers — 21,000 citizens reached, 17,000 students engaged, 160 complaints handled — as if statistics could substitute for fairness. But outreach and posters do not erase the lingering public doubt about whether justice and discipline are applied consistently, especially when certain offenders receive soft landings while others face harsh scrutiny for less. Public trust cannot be rebuilt with photo-ops and partnerships alone. It demands transparency in how complaints are investigated and how disciplinary outcomes are determined — especially when those outcomes seem to fall conveniently along racial or political lines.
If the ERC is as confident in its record as it claims, then let it make its investigative findings public. Let it demonstrate, with the same enthusiasm used for counting students and observers, that every citizen — regardless of race — is treated equally before the Commission’s own standards. And speaking of public confidence: the ERC’s response on iNews Facebook page was met with over 160 (and counting) laugh reactions. That reaction, while perhaps petty in appearance, speaks volumes about how ordinary Guyanese view the ERC’s attempt to sidestep accountability. When the public is laughing instead of listening, something has gone fundamentally wrong.
The ERC was created to heal divisions, not to market harmony while ignoring the cracks beneath the surface. Until it faces these issues honestly, all its statistics and slogans will remain what they are — numbers without trust.