Congressman Jeffries did not decline President Ali’s invitation – Burke

Dear Editor,

Wesley Kirton should have first ascertained the facts about the Government communications with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries before he rushed to regurgitate the PPP misrepresentation and hogwash. I’m appalled at the misguided letter that he rushed out to publish, acting akin to a PPP propagandist, without any knowledge of the facts of the communications between the Guyana Government and Congressman Hakeem Jeffries’ staff.

Kirton’s letter, “Congressman Jeffries missed a good opportunity to raise the `concerns’ of his constituents” published in Stabroek News (August 2, 2022), is premised on President Irfaan Ali’s view that Congressman Hakeem Jeffries refused to meet with him and contended that the Congressman missed an opportunity to have his concerns addressed by President Ali.

He published his nonsense with bold, self-assigned authority to boot, with no knowledge of the facts and with no apparent effort to ascertain the facts. But without the facts Wesley is manifesting himself as a mere PPP apologist who is propagating PPP talking points and creating noise pollution in the public square.

Upon inquiry I was advised by the Congressman’s staff that Guyana Ambassador in Washington wrote the Congressman requesting an individual meeting with Irfaan Ali.

The Congressman’s staff responded that there will be no one on one meeting, but that the Congressman is interested in a meeting between President Ali and all of the members of Congress who represent the majority of Guyanese across the US, including Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, as they all have similar concerns. The Embassy never responded to the Congressman’s request for such a meeting.

Obviously, Irfaan Ali is seeking out meetings for  public relations photo opportunities to claim that Black Members of Congress love and respect him, because it seems that photographs with powerful Black people in America is their policy to address accusations of racism, rather than governing equitably for all Guyanese.

The Congressman, I’m sure, is not interested in photo ops with Government of Guyana officials. He wants a meeting that will lead to resolution of the matters his constituents care about. Apparently, the PPP government and Ali are not interested in solutions. They are interested in public relations stunts. They want to meet Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, personally and individually.

But the Government of Guyana, and Irfaan Ali don’t get to dictate to a United States Congressman how his engagements and meetings are structured and who must be included or excluded. Let them take that nonsense to another country that may be willing to accommodate their public relations objectives.

This is Emancipation 2022.  People should know they cannot do the massa’s bidding and expect to get away with it!

Rickford Burke