Dear Editor,
The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) held its 25th General Members Meeting on October 28th, 2024, according to a press release issued by the GHRA on November 2, 2024. At that meeting, the GHRA reported that a new Executive Committee was elected.
Interestingly, the release made mention of only the former and new Executive Committee members; there was no mention of who constitute the broader membership of the organization and the total active members, other than the executives.
More interestingly, it was reported that during the years 2023 and 2024, the GHRA issued fifteen press releases on governance and election matters. One wonders whether governance and election matters mattered only in 2023 and 2024. Or was the GHRA not formed in the years prior?
What happened to 2020, and 2015-2020? More so, what happened to the ensuing period after the December 2018 No-Confidence Motion, wherein national elections were constitutionally due three months thereafter? There was no election until one year later.
During that period, Guyana was arguably in a constitutional crisis, and the unilateral appointment of the GECOM Chair by former President Granger was unconstitutional. Thankfully, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) overturned that appointment. How many press releases did the GHRA issue during this period?
I expended a considerable amount of time searching the internet for those GHRA press releases, but to no avail.
Further, it is quite ironic that the GHRA, as a non-governmental organization (NGO), does not subscribe to that which it advocates for nationally in relation to transparency and good governance.
The GHRA was founded in 1979, which means it is a 45-year-old organization, and it has never published a single annual report on its activities, operations, and audited financials, as in the case of the private sector NGOs. This is quite troubling, yet the GHRA comprises a group of individuals who are invariably hostile towards the incumbent PPP/C Government.
Yours sincerely,
Joel Bhagwandin
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