Dear Editor,
ALL is not well in Guyana. All is not well in the United States. All is not well in our world! But we all must use every opportunity to seek to correct the deficiencies which exist and that contribute to all not being well across the globe.

So it is against this background that I write to express my disappointment with US Congressman Hakeem Jeffries for not just refusing to meet with Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali, but moreso, for not having, as reported in the media, the common courtesy to acknowledge receipt of a request from the Guyana Embassy in Washington, DC to meet with the Guyanese leader. The basic conduct of diplomatic relations requires certain courtesies which one expects of elected officials. Not at least acknowledging receipt of a request from a visiting head-of-state, in my view, is not representative of the shared values of the American and Guyanese people.

Many of Congressman Jeffries’ constituents have been keeping him abreast of their perceptions of what is happening in Guyana. He has every right to listen to his constituents since it is they that elect him and keep him in Congress. But like any good politician, especially when it comes to issues beyond his constituency, he must seek to hear the other side of the story in an effort to  determine whether all the information received is factual and evidenced-based, or whether constituents are merely seeking to advance politically partisan “causes” back in their countries of origin.

As indicated at the top of my letter, all is not well globally including in Guyana. But efforts to improve the state of countries and our one world demand of elected officials the responsibility to engage in meaningful dialogue, to fairly assess information and to act according to their evaluations of the scenarios presented to them. Fair and lasting solutions to national and global problems require no less.

Last October, the Guyanese-American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) hosted a delegation from Guyana headed by Prime Minister Mark Philips for two ‘Doing Business with Guyana’ meetings in Florida and New York. Certain ‘elements’ in the Guyanese diaspora tried hard but failed miserably to derail the Chamber’s initiative.

The New York event was held at a Seventh Day Adventist Church facility in Brooklyn at which I was informed, prior to the event, is the occasional place of worship of Congressman Jeffries and some of his Guyanese diaspora constituents. No effort was spared by some in the Guyanese diaspora to have the pastor revoke the rental of the facility for the event. The pastor stood his ground, even making a public statement justifying why he had no problem making the facility available for the event.

On the night of the event there was a small but noisy protest outside the venue. Among the protestors were some who had been invited to the meeting, some of whom even took the opportunity to come into the meeting, walk across the back of the room to greet the prime minister and later ask questions and make comments. Later still, some of the other protestors joined the meeting to exchange pleasantries and join in the hospitality.

Among those was an African-American young man who appeared to be a close operative of the Congressman. We spent quite a while talking about Guyana and the Congressman’s apparent perceptions of Guyana. I think we both ended the conversation convinced of the need for dialogue between the Congressman and the Guyana Government among other stakeholders. I looked forward to this dialogue. When I read in the news that Vice-President Jagdeo had tested positive for COVID the day before engagements on the Hill, I was disappointed that he was not going to be part of the engagements with congressional leaders. But I was soon comforted by my memory of a favourite hymn of my mother which includes a line that says, “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.” I am pleased that the VP has since tested negative.

I firmly believe that Congressman Jeffries missed a good opportunity to raise the “concerns’ of his constituents with the Guyana Government, thereby denying himself the first-hand knowledge on which to decide whether he should up the ante on these concerns or seek to reason with his ‘concerned’ constituents that things are not as bad in Guyana as they make it out to be. He should have met with President Ali, but as Clyde Walcott used to say in his cricket commentary, “That was not to be.”

However, a simple acknowledgement of receipt of the request from the embassy would have been the courteous thing to do. As a dual Guyanese- American citizen, I expect our leaders to operate on the basis of the shared values which have characterised our relations over the years.

Yours sincerely,
Wesley Kirton