PEDDLING lies deliberately and consistently takes a particular set of skills. Rickford Burke has mastered them and even turned his skill into an art form. Whether he suffers from a disorder or is just plain wicked, make no mistake, his goal is to mislead, misinform and stir up racial unrest in Guyana and perhaps even violence from the plush comfort of his New York home.

Burke and his kind feed off the oxygen that I and others might give him. He is undeserving of a response and yet one might ask, why am I writing this column? I am writing because nearly a thousand people in Guyana and abroad, even in Argentina on the other side of South America, tuned in and commented on “Ride Along,” a talk show that featured Burke and his side-kick, Paul Slowe, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police in Guyana.

“Ride Along” is hosted by Junior George, a Grenadian living in Brooklyn N.Y. Before giving Burke more than three hours of almost uninterrupted time on his show that aired on Wednesday, September 4, George described Burke as “a close friend” and heaped praise on his Guyanese pal for bailing him out of legal trouble. The two men bantered about their age and good looks and George reflected with gleeful pride on the time when Burke had invited the U.S. Congressman Hakeem Jeffries for a campaign stop in the basement of his home.

After hearing this bit of banter, my instinct told me that George was giving Burke a free platform to peddle his venomous hate and outright lies. This was no longer “Ride Along” but rather the “Ride Alone” show with Burke at the helm. When Kwame McCoy, Minister of Information, called in to address the lies of Burke and Slowe, he was shouted down, rudely heckled, laughed at and called “a propagandist” for the PPP. To his credit, George tried in vain to wrestle control from Burke, but how can you tell “your friend” to shut up and be civil?

McCoy doesn’t live in the suburbs of Brooklyn. He resides in Guyana where hostile journalists with political agendas hurl questions at him and the PPP administration on an hourly basis. McCoy can’t afford to spin lies and tell tall tales with free media nipping at his heels. But Burke and Slowe are not accountable to anyone and can say whatever they like – propaganda galore – in the service of a clique in the upper echelons of the PNC and AFC. But friends, particularly those who have a reputation to uphold, have limits.

When Burke repeated a malicious lie that the PPP sent a ‘hitman’ to his N.Y. home to threaten his life, it was a bit too much for his friend George. The man who showed up at Burke’s residence was a process server, a person tasked to deliver and serve legal documents to people involved in court cases and other legal actions. It is a career in the legal field. George asked Burke whether he had a video to back up his allegation. No, said Burke. “I am a former process server and you were legally served. That is a legal service, you know that,” George flatly told Burke.

“You can’t believe anything this administration says,” Burke chanted. Burke wants everyone to believe only what the truth be damned. Burke repeatedly claimed that the FBI and the NYPD’s 71st Precinct have launched investigations into his allegations that the PPP tried to assassinate him. I’ve covered crime, national security and terrorism for over 30 years as a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and complaining to law enforcement agents does not amount to an investigation.

Burke’s allegation that the PPP, under President Bharrat Jagdeo’s administration, ordered the execution of 1,400 black men went unchallenged until Minister McCoy called in on a phone line that made him sound as if he was a mile away from a microphone. McCoy was shouted down, interrupted and insulted when he pointed out that Burke’s list of so-called “extrajudicial killings” contains the names of individuals who are alive and well in Guyana. McCoy offered to bring a few of them on a future show if given an opportunity.

Burke persisted, insisting that the United Nations had launched an investigation into his allegation that 1,400 people were killed by PPP death squads. It’s a ‘pants on fire’ lie. To date, there has never been an independent investigation into what exactly occurred during those years. Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC), in dialogue with the Government of Guyana, asked what progress has been made on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry in investigating extrajudicial killings that took place between 2002 and 2006.

The question should have been directed at the previous administration who promised in 2018 to launch a Presidential Commission of Inquiry, but chose not to. Burke’s allies in the APNU+AFC administration had a golden opportunity to conduct an investigation, but they were too busy signing away the country’s wealth to a multinational corporation for a half-decent bottle of whiskey.

According to Burke, Guyana’s Attorney General committed cybercrime when he listed the number of crimes that Burke has been charged with in Guyana. With the same breath, Burke accused the PPP of using the “playbook of the Conservatives, Jim Crow and the KKK to silence its critics.” It’s a soundbite designed for the uninformed and like much of what Burke says, it is fatuous.

Burke parades himself as a public policy and political consultant, but his closest friends are well aware that he is nothing but a buffoon. Those who are gullible enough to fall for this wazzock would be wise to demand proof of his alleged degree from NYU Law School.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.