Dear Editor,
Yesterday, June 11, 2017, over 10,000 Guyanese combined turned out to participate in or observe the annual Guyana Independence parade and attend the unity concert in Brooklyn. The celebration organized by the Guyana Independence Anniversary Celebration Committee (New York), to commemorate Guyana’s 51stAnniversary of Independence, was a resounding success.
Although the Committee will later issue formal thanks and acknowledgments, personally, I sincerely wish to thank our committee members and all volunteers for their hard work. Thanks also to our street promotion team as well as Vinod Bisram and Angels Caribbean Band. Special partners, Mark Ellis, Junior Paton and team from Vybz Up Radio, Zeelema Verwayne, DJ Cato and team from One Destiny Mass camp.
I want the Guyanese people to know that elements within the PNCR political party and the Government of Guyana actively undermined our organization and tried to block the Guyanese people from celebrating yesterday. This was a corrupt attempt to boost attendance for a little group of their supporters who deliberately planned a private party for the same day as our celebration.
According to reports, the government of Guyana sent the Attorney General, Minster of Social Protection and Minister of Health and others to the private events. Although the government was invited to send representatives to our celebration, their ministers who were in New York refused to attend our celebration, out of political allegiance to a failed group. Their decision was based on lies, wholesale fabrications, gossip, innuendo and misinformation by unsavory characters, who ran a misinformation campaign to smear me and ingratiate themselves with government officials.
Unsavory individuals from the group tore down hundreds of posters and banners erected and posted by our committee to inform Guyanese about its celebration and conducted a social media campaign against the independence celebration. Generally, the actions of the private group were condoned and supported by the Consul General of Guyana.
The Government’s attempt to divide the Guyanese diaspora backfired immensely. While over 10,000 Guyanese turned out to participate in and observ our committee’s multi-ethnic, multi-cultural celebration, only a few dozen people attended the private event the government endorsed. Whether or not this lack of support for those who attempted to divide our community is commensurate with the government’s influence is for the people to determine. Nonetheless, the intelligence of Guyanese must no longer be underestimated. I thank my fellow Guyanese for resoundingly rejecting division and embracing unity at our celebration.
The Guyana government yesterday was against the people and on the wrong side of history. It placed the expediency of personal friendships and divisive politics paramount to cohesion and true unity. Its attack on a multi-racial committee, by supporting a group with no diversity demonstrates that its so-called policy on “social cohesion†is a sham.
A letter from the Consul General of Guyana was sent to the Church we asked to host the annual Independence Prayer Service in an attempt to block that service. Another letter from the Consul General was sent to the NYPD to block the Independence parade but was rejected. The Consul General’s actions were unpatriotic and disgraceful. Her interference and obstruction of a not for profit, tax exempt organization violate United States law. Consequently, I have written to the United States Justice and State Departments asking for an investigation of the actions by the Consul General, as a complaint to the Guyana government was ignored. My complaint to the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs is attached.
I believe in national unity. My contribution to Guyana and the diaspora is unassailable. Given the current state of affairs, my family and I have decided to withdraw our support of the PNCR and the coalition government of Guyana.
Rickford Burke
International Law and Public Policy Consultant
