Opposition wants ERC to probe non-hiring of East Indians by GECOM
June 5 2018
The PPP yesterday continued to pursue claims that Indo-Guyanese were not provided with a fair opportunity for employment by GECOM.
In a media statement, Dr. Roger Luncheon, PPP Executive and the party’s Election Committee Member, said that several sources indicated that commissioners at GECOM are apparently engaged in a process of eliminating candidates for advertised positions at GECOM secretariat.
He specifically signalled out the ‘People’s National Congress (PNC) Commissioners’ of undertaking such actions.
According to Luncheon, the PNC representatives are giving low to zero scores to candidates of Indian origin who are short-listed during the interview process, while providing high to 100% scores to their preferred candidates
He stated that the ‘PNC Commissioners’ are finding extraneous reasons for eliminating top rank candidates of Indian origin from appointment to positions at the GECOM secretariat
“If these disclosures are confirmed, it would reveal that the practice continues of excluding some ethnicities from GECOM secretariat,” Luncheon stated.
He explained that once confirmed, the PPP condemns ‘this practice in the strongest possible terms’. “The party urges the aggrieved candidates to approach the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) on the ground of ethnic discrimination.”
People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Commissioner Robeson Benn had publicly expressed concerns that 95% of the staff at GECOM was Afro-Guyanese.
Photo: Roger Luncheon