The work of the ERG is to give citizens the...
has not heard of 99% of the ERG members indicates that we may not be the usual suspects. So do not dismiss non-partisan civil society. In a polarized nation, there has to be a way to get the poles together, and such civil society offers a medium. We are not referring to the polarization of right and wrong, upon which we do not encroach. Those who are wrong must either demonstrably repent or go. They remain to the country’s detriment. But being right is not enough. The whole series of events since the no-confidence-motion demonstrated that getting it right is a necessary but not sufficient condition for harmony — because there were not sufficient people who knew arithmetic in that party and who had the character to tell their leadership in no uncertain terms that they were wrong. Education is therefore also necessary. Character we will have to pray for.
The group began meeting weekly in July 2020, became incorporated November 23, 2020, and was launched December 5, 2020. But many of us were involved in election matters before. More recently, but before the
March 2020 elections, Dr. Desmond Thomas published his book in December 2019, Electoral System Reform for a Diverse Nation, the case of Guyana. It is available in Austin’s locally and on Amazon, and in a Kindle edition which has the updates. The genius of the book is that the electoral system can be reformed according to 5 selected characteristics: proportionality, accountability, inclusiveness, transparency, and stability. The idea of the ERG is that citizens can become sufficiently informed to make the choice. We never had the opportunity to choose our electoral system. So the work of the ERG is to give citizens that choice. It will not be easy and we will need everybody’s help. Here is an opportunity to contribute to our own homechosen electoral system, no matter which party we vote for. Anyone, including Mr. Kissoon, is welcome to inspect our template and data at an arranged time. Let us demonstrate that all Guyanese can unite in formulating something we can genuinely call our own.