The Guyana Police Force has issued a Wanted Bulletin for United States-based Rickford Burke, President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute of Democracy (CGID). According to the bulletin, Burke is wanted by the Police “for questioning in relation to conspiracy to commit a felony to wit publication of defamatory libel in order to extort money.
The alleged offence has to do with the online Guyana News Network (GNN) publishing a story which Burke has been associated with, an allegation he has denied. According to him “the claim is false, but even if I did, publishing a news story in a news outlet, which exposes corruption, is neither a crime nor untoward conduct, even if it makes certain powerful people feel exposed and embarrassed.”
See below the text of Burke’s response to the Bulletin
The PPP Government and their agents in the Guyana Police Force will have to kill me to silence me
Senior officers at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Guyana Police Force have finally finished their plotting with persons in the Attorney General’s Chambers and the DPP’s office, to frame me in the hope that this second wanted Bulletin will tarnish my character and reputation.
My attorneys and I have been in confidential communication with members of the Guyana Police Force all week who have been updating us on a daily basis of the development of the sinister plot and a Guyana Police strategy to “get Rickford Burke,” and silence him, by named members of the Guyana Police Force and a member of the PPP cabinet. We are aware that all of the questions they asked every person under arrest recently was about Rickford Burke, in an attempt to coerce them to frame me.
This criminal conspiracy has produced yet another wanted Bulletin for me for speaking forcefully truth to power against corruption and racism in the Guyana Police Force and the PPP government will not silence me. Nelson Mandella, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr, and other freedom fighters around the world faced similar repression.
I get my strength from my incomparable and awesome God, and from these incredible heroes. I am therefore undaunted and unmoved by this cowardly act of transnational repression by a government that pretends to be democratic. This abuse by the Police and judicial process in trying to intimidate and smear me will backfire!
The PPP regime and some in the Guyana Police Force are obviously scared of me. They are scared of my advocacy and my influence in the US, Guyana and the Caribbean Region. They are hoping that this second Bulletin will criminalize me, diminish my influence and popularity, and silence me. They have severely miscalculated.
The PPP government and the minions in the Guyana Police Force will have to carry through with their conspiracy to kill me to silence me!
Prior to the issuance of this Bulletin, the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) board briefed our Members of Congress and some members of the Biden Administration about the impending act of transnational repression. We also delivered a brief directly from a senior Police official in Guyana who has expressed shock and disbelief at the abhorrent conspiracy to frame me.
Democracy and the rule of law are under threat in Guyana. Guyana is becoming a very dangerous place for black people and other Guyanese who don’t support the PPP who want to live and survive and to stand up for their rights. Freedom of speech and protests against the Government and Police have been made illegal and the Police and government are using Cybercrime legislation to suppress free speech and the press.
CGID and I call on every right thinking Guyanese to condemn this Bulletin and the Police plot to frame me aĺl the way in New York.
We call on all Guyanese at home and in the diaspora to join CGID and I in the struggle for justice and democracy in Guyana and, and to end PPP apartheid governance in Guyana.
CGID and I will continue to stand up for the rights of African Guyanese, the poor and neglected, as well as all East Indians and Amerindians who do not support the PPP and their racist policies and practices, who are being oppressed and subjugated by the apartheid PPP regime.
