Jeffries as new Minority Leader could pose some prickly problems for Guyana Government

Nov 27, 2022 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

The Republican Party has won a slim majority of seats in the US House of Representatives, which means that the Democrats will be relegated to the Opposition during the new term of Congress beginning January 2023.

Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader, Stanley Hoyer, and Majority Whip, James Clyburn have all declared that they would relinquish their leadership positions in the Democratic Party, leaving a clear path for Hakeem Jeffries to become Minority Leader, a position for which he has already won the endorsement of Ms. Pelosi.

Mr. Jeffries, the current Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, has considerable support among rank-and-file Democrat House members, and as Minority Leader, he will enjoy a position of great power and influence.

Jeffries’ elevation could complicate the politics between the US and the Guyana Government due to his association with a certain Rickford Burke, a one time Technical Advisor and Special Assistant to Desmond Hoyte, former President of Guyana.

Burke has become an influential leader in the Black Caribbean community of Brooklyn, which constitutes an important voting bloc in Jefferies electoral district.   The combined ethnic connection and critical voting support for re-election from Caribbean Blacks cemented a strong bond between Jeffries and Burke.  The latter on his part is using Jeffries’ name and influence to accuse the Guyana Government of practicing racial discrimination against Guyanese Blacks.

Rickford Burke, is a Guyanese-born, naturalized US citizen, domiciled in Brooklyn. He has skillfully used his position as President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), and his association with the ‘Black Lives Matter (BLM)’ movement to label the Guyana Government as practicing “blatant racism against African Guyanese.”   He has won not only the backing of Mr. Jeffries, but recently, also the support of Ms. Letitia James, the powerful Attorney General of NY.

Burke has worked hand-in-glove with the APNU-AFC Party for which he is a leading think-tank member in Brooklyn.  In an August 19, 2021 article, the New York Amsterdam News reported that Guyanese Organizations Against Racism (ROAR) held a rally at Grand Army Plaza, Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn to denounce the supposed racist policies of the PPP Government.   Several lawmakers of the opposition APNU-AFC flew in from Guyana to join CGID, the BLM movement, and representatives of the Haitian community.

Jeffries, a featured speaker at the rally, visibly upset by the alleged ‘targeted racism against African Guyanese,’ went on a tirade calling out the American Ambassador, Sara Ann Lynch, who ROAR accused of being in cahoots with the ‘racist and corrupt [PPP] regime.’   As an Impeachment Manager, Jeffries was fully aware of the unjust recall in May 2019 of Marie Yovanovitch, the former American Ambassador to Ukraine, through an orchestrated defamation “smear-campaign” by President Trump’s personal Lawyer.

But Jeffries was not yet finished, addressing Seventh Day Adventist members on Guyana Day at a church in New York, he stated, “We stand in solidarity with each and every one of you to deal with the situation down in Guyana.… we will not tolerate racism, intolerance, hatred, xenophobia, racially motivated violence, discrimination, and justice… and we are going to continue to do everything necessary to get things moving in a fairer and more equitable direction.” (Demerara Waves, Oct., 15, 2021)

Letitia James, who attended one of the meetings, is the latest American Politician to voice her support of ROAR’s and Burke’s accusation against the PPP Government.  Describing “Burke as a “brother from another mother,” James launched into a diatribe, threatening, “that if any harm comes to Rickford Burke, let me say that again, if any harm comes to Rickford Burke, anyone on this dais, or anyone in this room, there will have to be answers. We will immediately demand answers, and I can tell you that someone will be held accountable for those actions.”

Asserting that she believed in democracy, she continued, “I will defend that [democracy]. And I will abhor any discrimination or racism of any people, particularly people from the African Diaspora.”  Her emphatic statement on democracy, gives the impression that Ms. James is unaware of the barefaced, and crude attempts by APNU, Rickford Burke’s Party, to subvert the 2020 Guyana elections.

Heading a high-powered diplomatic and business trip to the US, President Ali had attempted, through diplomatic channels, to engage Hakeem Jeffries, but he received no response.   In its usual communication with the US State Department, the US Embassy in Guyana must have kept it abreast of the political situation in Guyana.  Yet on his trip to the US, President Ali was tactfully cautioned to pursue “inclusive growth…inclusive democracy… and security for all.”  Apparently, the smear campaign by the NY-based APNU associates, and their friends in high places in the US, is having an impact.

Jeffries and Ms. James are familiar with recent Guyana politics, yet they seem to be emotionally swept up by accusations of racial discrimination against Blacks.  Additionally, they have clearly decided to side with their friend Rickford Burke.

The Guyana Government has some options that it can pursue to blunt the smear campaign, and the twisted perceptions of powerful politicians.  Gregory Meeks, a senior Democrat in the House, whose electoral district has a large following of Guyanese-born supporters may be willing to lend a sober ear.  More importantly, a strong lobbying team should be co-opted in the US to counter the one-sided narrative from opposition forces that is already gaining some traction.

The Guyana Consulate in New York, and the Embassy in Washington DC, through the initiatives of the Guyana Government, should forcefully and skillfully make strategic contacts with influential Politicians to correct the narrative.

Regards,

Ramdular Singh

---

---