Contact Us

EMLD Executive Committee Members

Chair

Cllr Meral Ece OBE

Meral has been chair of EMLD since 2006, and a councillor since 1994, elected to Hackney Council 1994-2002, serving as Deputy Leader, and councillor since 2002 on Islington Council, ward councillor for Mildmay Ward. Appointed by Nick Clegg MP, Liberal Democrat Leader, as his Special Adviser on Community Cohesion, BME Communities. Meral was the first woman from a Turkish background to be elected councillor in Hackney, and the first to stand as a Parliamentary Candidate. She comes from a family of community activists, and is a well known and respected figure in the Turkish Speaking community. She was the Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care 2002-6, responsible for a budget of £80m. Meral has been a non-executive director of Camden & Islington Mental Health & Social Care Trust, and a board member on Islington Primary Care Trust. Meral served on the London Region Executive, and the Federal Policy Committee. Meral has twice been elected by all Lib Dem councillors to represent their interests on the Party's ruling Federal Executive Committee. In May 2008, Meral was appointed by Harriet Harman MP, to the Government's BME Women Councillors Task Force to increase the number of BME women in public life. In her professional life, Meral had a long career in local government, and the NHS, where she was a chief officer. She is an IDeA accredited Peer, and supports and trains other councillors. Currently working as a consultant for charities and NGO's. Meral was awarded the OBE in the 2009 Queens New Tears Honours, for services to local government. Meral has 3 children and lives in Highbury, North London.
07949 678 597
meralhece@yahoo.co.uk
www.meralece@blogspot.com

Vica Chair

Cllr Rabi Martins

Rabi was born in Goa, educated in East Africa and Ireland and has lived in the UK since 1971. He is a founder member of the SDP in 1981 and was first elected to Watford Borough Council in 1994. where he has served as Deputy Group Leader, Cabinet member for Regeneration and Community Cohesion, Chair of Licensing Committee and Chairman of the Council He is a member of the Local Government Association Community Well being Board In 2002 Rabi was asked by the then Party President Lord Navnit Dholakia to chair the Party Race Equality Group which produced the first report on ethnic minority representation within the the Liberal Democrats Party - Diversity, Equality and the Party Rabi chaired the Liberal Democrats Ethnic Minority Election Taskforce from 2003 until it was merged with Ethnic Minority Liberal Demorats in 2008, when he was elected as one of the torgansiation's three vice-chairs Outside the Party Rabi has served on the Commission for Racial Equality Safer Communities Steering Group and operated as an Independent Advisor to the Metropolitan Police Service Rabi has a keen interest in Human Rights affairs and as Secretary of the Liberal Democrats Friends of India participated in a delegation to Kashmir which included Baroness Shirley Williams and Norman Lamb MP. He is a member of Amnesty International and Liberty Rabi has been a Parliamentary candidate on three occassions and is now PPC Luton North Finalist in the Lloyds TSB UK Asian Jewel Awards for Communiy Service" He was also elected to the Liberal Democrats Peers Panel in the same year Rabi works as an Executive Director for a social enterprise company in West London. His leisure interests include photography, music, theatre, writing
079617
Rabi.Martins@watford.gov.uk

Vice Chair

Mohammed Shafiq

Born in January 1979 in Littleborough, Rochdale, Lancashire. I went to Deeplish Primary School, Derby Street from 1983 to 1989. I then went to Kingsway Middle School for one year till the local education authority merged schools and I joined the new school called Springhill High School, I attended this school from 1990 - 1995. I then went to Bury College, in Bury UK to study GNVQ Leisure and Tourism. In 1998 I discovering that academic education was not for me at that stage of my life I decided to do a variety of jobs before I left for London where I joined Simon Hughes MP the senior Liberal Democrat spokesman for a few years. He is one of the most genuine and sincere politicians I have ever met and I am touched that he is a personal friend. I then joined the Cabinet Office for some time and also worked extensively on the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into institutional racism in the Metropolitan police Service and the Public Sector. At this stage I left London and joined the Civil Service in the Employment Service as an FJR Officer in Eastgate Jobcentre in Leeds. During my 18 months there I worked in a variety of positions and took a lead role in Diversity and Equality in the Employment Service. In April 2002 the Employment Service and the Benefit Agency merged to become the new Jobcentre Plus network. Due to family circumstances I moved back home in October 2003 and was transferred to the Salford Social Security Office as Admin Support Officer for the National Insurance Allocation Team. I was then promoted in December 2003 as an Executive Officer and was posted to Prestwich Jobcentre as a Restart Adviser. I left this posting in August 2004 to become the Regional Equality and Diversity Officer in the North West Region. I left this post in February 2005 to become an Outreach Advisor in Bolton, working with hard to reach customers from BME communities then moved to Oldham to work as a Specialist Outreach Adviser. I now work in the Child Support Agency as a Complex Caseworker. In my community roles I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats for many years. I have fought the 1997, 2001 and 2005 General Election campaigns, the local election campaigns in Leeds, Southwark, Islington, Oldham, Bradford, Edinburgh and Wembley. I have campaigned in successive By Election campaigns in Romsey, Brent East, Littleborough and Saddleworth, Leeds Central, Leicester South, Winchester, Hartlepool, Livingston, Cheadle and many others. In my various community involvements, I was part of Nick Clegg's campaign to be leader of the party and have worked closely with him on the government's Anti terror laws Married to Saima and with two daughters.
mohammed.shafiq@ramadhanfoundation.com

Vice Chair

Nader Fekri J.P.

I was born in Iran, but moved to Britain when I was eight. I grew up on the south coast, but moved up to Manchester to go to University. After graduation, I worked for the co-operative movement, and later became a researcher, and eventually went into teaching at universities. In the 1990s, I worked for the British Council, and taught in universities in East and Central Europe. I eventually moved back to Britain to settle in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where I now live with my wife, Helen, and my sons. I am a History lecturer at Bradford University. I fought Keighley in 2005, beating the national leader of the BNP comfortably into fourth place. I am a candidate for the 2009 Euro Elections for Yorkshire. I am a local councillor on Calderdale MBC where I am Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young people, as well as group spokesperson for Green and Environmental issues. I am a town councillor on Hebden Royd where I have the honour of being Mayor this year. I am Vice-President of Yorkshire and the Humber Lib Dems. I am a school governor at Riverside Junior School, and a magistrate on the Calderdale Bench in Halifax. I am a pacifist and atheist, and I support of Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, the National Secular Society, and the NSPCC. In my spare time, Ilove spending time with my family, cooking, listening to Van Morrison, reading Modern European Detective Fiction, and following the trials and tribulations of Tranmere Rovers.
naderfekri@hotmail.com

Vamsi Velagapudi

Recently elected as Treasurer of EMLD, Vamsi is also a local activist and Secretary of the Islington Liberal Democrats. Vamsi grew up in Southwark and attended the City of London School for Boys, before studying Mathematics at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He then went on to study Economics at Birkbeck University, before joining Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets as a Graduate Trainee. He worked primarily in the wholesale markets and recently moved to nabCapital last year. He is a school governor in Islington and a volunteer for the Envision youth programme. Current hobbies include supporting Arsenal and training for the London Marathon!
vamsivelagapudi@hotmail.co.uk

Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt became the new secretary of EMLD on 2 December '08. He had previously served on the ethnic minority electoral task force. An ageing relic of the anti-racist and fascist battles of the 1970s and '80s, he was by trade a journalist on national newspapers. Jonathan helped establish guidelines on race reporting when on the NUJ's race committee. He was city and business editor of Today and Sunday Today, and worked on the Observer and Financial Times. An approved candidate, most recently in Gillingham, '01. As a Southwark councillor, his reputation was fighting institutional discrimination and corruption. Married to Veronica, they have two adopted sons of black Caribbean descent.

Membership Secretary

Sven Griesenbeck

Sven is a Liberal Democrat Councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham, representing the Lee Green Ward. Originally from a small village in western Germany, Sven has been living in London for the last 12 years. He is working as a Senior Library Assistant in a College Library, but his main interest is in politics. In his time on Lewisham Council, Sven works closely together with Godfried Gyechie. He represent the Liberal Democrats on the Public Accounts Committee, Licensing Committee, Constitutional Working Party, Overview and Scrutiny and since earlier this year has been elected as the Whip for the current year. Previously, Sven was for two years the Council's Appointee to the Local History Society. Sven's main interest - next to politics - is modern history since the mid-19th century, collecting old books and newspapers, classical music, internationalism, and has recently discovered his interest in the Arabic culture and Middle East in general.

Media Contact

Merlene Toh Emerson

Originally from Singapore, Merlene came to London to study law at Kings College, University of London and obtained her Master of Laws degree from University of Cambridge. She then trained as a Solicitor and worked at Norton Rose, Solicitors in the City in the financial and banking department. She has also worked overseas in the areas of joint ventures and project finance with clients in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. In 1999 Merlene requalified as a mediator with C.E.D.R. and has since volunteered as a community mediator for CALM Mediation. In early 2007 she joined the Board of the social landlords, Richmond Housing Partnership Group and is a Director of the Chinese Welfare Trust. Merlene is currently the Liberal Democrat PPC for Hammersmith, London. Prior to that she stood for her Party in the GLA elections in May 2008, for the Constituency of West Central (which includes Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster).
merle@markemerson.net
www.merlene.org.uk

Karen Hamilton

Karen is a councillor in Birmingham, and recently selected as the PPC for Birmingham Perry Barr.
karen@karen4perrybarr.org.uk>

Godfried Gyechie

Godfried Gyechie is a Lewisham Borough Councillor representing Blackheath Ward. He is of Ghanain and Guyanese parentage Godfried attended Queens College Taunton Somerset He stood as one of the three Liberal Democrat candidates at the 2006 local elections and unseated the Labour Deputy Mayor . He is proud to not only be one of the first Liberal Democrat councillors, but first councillors of African decent to represent Blackheath Ward. Godfried Gyechie is on the following committees, - Blackheath Safer Neighbourhood Panel (Chair) - Blackheath & Greenwich joint working party (Vice Chair) - Overview & Scrutiny - Licensing - Children & Young People - S.A.C.R.A In is professional life he works for one of the countries largest Developers. Godfried Gyechie is a committed Christian, married, and blessed with two daughters. His hobbies include, Choral Music, Opera ,History, and spending time with his children.
godfriedgyechie@yahoo.co.uk
http://godfriedgyechie.mycouncillor.org.uk/about-me/

Joseph Lee

Born in South West London in July 1983, Joseph took an interest in politics at a young age and joined the Liberal Democrats last year. Since then he has been an active member of the party, helping with the London Mayoral campaign and his local London regional campaign. Despite being a relatively new addition to the party, Joseph was asked to appear at the last London regional conference as a guest on a panel of speakers discussing BME issues. Joseph is of Jamaican descent and as such, is a proud member of the EMLD, striving to represent the ethnic minority members of the party and to use his own background and experience to engage young BME people. Joseph has shown this ambition and motivation in the professional arena too. Turning down the offer to read Sociology at Manchester University, Joseph instead chose to pursue the family business of Property developing, knowing that his skills would be better utilised in the commercial world rather than in academia. As a result, at the age of only 24, Joseph and his brother opened up their first branch of Hunters Estate Agents. Despite the current housing market, the business is continuing to grow and they now have two branches and are looking to expand further still, to open a third branch early next year. In his role as Director of an estate agency, Joseph has been asked by various media organisations to comment on the housing market, which has culminated in an aired report on BBC London and more recently, an interview for "Escape to the country" which will be aired on BBC One later his year Joseph leads on youth affairs for EMLD.
J.Lee@huntersonline.co.uk

Dai Liyanage

LIYANAGE, Dayantha (Dai) Porambe MBE, FMS, MCMI, born in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 18 1944, education Royal College, Colombo; Brunel University career management consultancy, GLC, London Boroughs of Barnet, Ealing, Tower Hamlets & City of Westminster, British Shoe Corporation, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, National Criminal Intelligence Service, Urpol Policy Consultants party constituency chair, v chair Home Counties and SE region. Elected to Kent CC (first Asian), Gillingham BC, Medway UA, Mayor of Medway; Member of fact finding tour of South Africa, peace mission to Sri Lanka; served on David Steel's commission on reasons for lack of ethnic minority involvement in politics; Inner City Working Group, member Federal Policy Committee, ELDR Council, Treasurer LDEG & LIBG special interests served on OFWAT CSC, National Lottery Charities Board (SE region), Kent Police Authority, chair- school governing body, chair -Havengore Education & Leadership Mission, V Chair Kent Assn for the Blind, Chair Medway Family Support Service, Chair Medway Action against Racial Attacks, Trustee Medway REC; International Election Monitor - Sri Lanka
liyanage@blueyonder.co.uk

Malik Nazir Ahmad

malik_nazir@hotmail.com

Mirka Anderson

mirkieran@hotmail.com