Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at his press conference on Thursday lashed out at social media influencers, threatening the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government will go after them. An undeterred Mark Benschop, prominent social activist, social media and radio talk show of the ‘Straight Up’ programme, countered, “not so fast!”
According to Jagdeo, “I hope that the social media influencers who are operating under the guise that they are not in our jurisdiction and they feel safe abroad, safe from the reach of our law, that they are taking note too and I hope that anyone that they malign, sue them now and hire somebody abroad to serve them notice or the summon and make sure they video it like they did Rickford Burke and then proceed in Court.”
However, Benschop sees Jagdeo’s “threats” as cause for “social media influencers to up the ante in holding the government accountable.” In conversation with Village Voice News, Benschop says social media influencers or activists, especially those residing in the diaspora, particularly in the United States, must not allow themselves to be intimidated by the Guyana Police Force or any official of government.
The talk show host says come 2024, the PPP/C’s head will spin because social media influencers will intensify their role to hold the regime accountable and this is what media and citizens do in a democracy. “If they say they have a democracy then they must be able to withstand the rigours of citizens’ role in a democracy,” Benschop utters.
Responding to Jagdeo’s urging that private citizens should take action against those social influencers who use their media platforms to speak out, as the government boasts it has done against Rickford Burke, Benschop says he wants it to be known whenever the rights of Guyanese, home or in the diaspora, are violated people must speak out.
According to him “Jagdeo must understand knack gat knack back and we shall not be intimidated by him and other members of the regime, who on a daily basis infringe the rights of Guyanese.”
Undeterred by Jagdeo’s statement, in reference to Burke to “sue them now and hire somebody abroad to serve them notice or the summon and make sure they video it like they did Rickford Burke and then proceed in Court,” Benschop says the diaspora will be keeping an eye on members of Guyana Police Force who enter America to partake in illegality, such as plotting against critics of the PPP regime, including social media influencers.
Turning to Jagdeo’s accusation that Burke, who has not returned to Guyana since 1998, has extorted persons in Guyana, Benschop is of the opinion Jagdeo has no moral authority to talk about extortion. According to the talk show host, whilst Jagdeo talks about extortion a greater accusation hangs over him based on statements made by Chinese businessman Su Zhirong.
Zhirong, in a US-based VICE News investigative report, fingered Jagdeo as a key player in taking kickbacks to grant Chinese businessmen large government contracts. Jagdeo has denied the allegation and has since sued Su.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement said on the 13th day of December 2023 Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rodwell Sarabo left Guyana and travelled to the USA with defendant summons in his possession to serve on Burke. The Police said on 16th December 2023, Sarabo met with Mark Wesserman, a Process Server based in the USA and they served Burke at his home address at Maple Street, Brooklyn, New York. Burke denied being served.
