A 14-person delegation from the United States of America – including state legislators – arrived here on Monday to review allegations of racism, discrimination and human rights violations and will be visiting various communities.
President & Founder of the Organization of World Leaders, Dee Dawkins-Haigler yesterday during a press conference at the Critchlow Labour College said that the visiting delegations has received innumerable complaints of racism, discrimination and human rights violations being meted out towards Afro-Guyanese.
She said that these allegations have been supported with the provision of reports from international organizations like the United Nations and human rights entities who have been monitoring Guyana’s geo-political affairs.
The Guyana Government has said this delegation is biased towards the opposition and it will not be engaging with it.
Dawkins-Haigler, former Chairperson of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus said that she and her delegation will be visiting communities such as Mocha Arcadia, Linden and New Amsterdam to verify these reported claims.
In response to a question posed by Stabroek News on whether the fact-finding mission will encompass discussions with the Private Sector Commission on the country’s business climate the Delegation leader replied in the affirmative.
“Yes, we have already received an invitation from Mr Komal Singh (Chairman of the Private Sector Commission), where we will discuss a myriad of issues, also we will be meeting with several representatives from the oil and gas sectors”, she informed.
“In addition to that we received complaints of alleged inequality and unfair competition in the oil and gas sector where persons said that the oil revenues and contracts are being awarded indiscriminately, which we find alarming and that we have to verify while here in Guyana”, Hawkins-Haigler said.
Though astonished at President Irfaan Ali’s refusal to meet with the US Delegation, the Organization of World Leaders President said she respects the Guyanese Head of State’s prerogative, but is open to meeting with him.
The Government of Guyana on Saturday said that it will not engage with the `fact-finding’ mission.
According to the Government in a press release “the delegation and the intended visit appear to have resulted from a conference organized by Rickford Burke, a Guyanese residing in Brooklyn, New York which was yesterday vehemently denied by Dawkins- Haigler.
“We have no animosity towards the president … because he has that right as a sovereign leader of this nation, to not meet or meet with any group he deems necessary, but this is a group of highly esteemed individuals who are here to promote equality and unity”, she said.
“Our concerns are deepened due the complaints we have received of us being aligned and I will make it clear we are not aligned to Mr. Rickford Burke”, she clarified.
The former Atlanta, Georgia state representative, said the fact-finding mission has no connections with Burke nor have they met him in person.
She told journalists that the fact-finding mission is “independent, unbiased, objective and unaligned politically”.
Haigler also reminded that in August of 2021, a delegation of US legislators, business owners, human rights activists and others had travelled to Guyana to attend the Socio-Economic Emancipation 2021.
During this visit, the US delegation had the opportunity to meet with President Ali and his executive cabinet. They also met with the opposition leader and the former US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch. During this time in Guyana and based on the meetings with the President, it was the hope of the delegation that both parties would work for the good of Guyana, specifically related to the reference from the President’s “One Guyana” statements.
She said she and President Ali have cordial relations and during his recent visit to New York she was assured that his government is on the path of equity and inclusivity.
However, the numerous complaints of discrimination and racism from Guyanese here and in the diaspora prompted the delegation’s visit, the former Georgia State representative noted.
According to the release from the US fact-finding mission, the decision to visit Guyana was also prompted by presentations by Members of Parliament, Roysdale Forde, David Patterson, Dawn Hastings-Williams, and Catherine Hughes at the Washington Diaspora Conference, where accusations were outlined by the leadership of a large section of the Guyanese populace. This was in addition to a public missive issued by Forde as Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, which was published in the Kaieteur News, as well as calls made by way of a formal request for a fact-finding mission to assess allegations of discrimination, marginalization and displacement.
Notably while the United States has been battling racism and supremacy for many years, Dawkins- Haigler said that all ethnicities must exist under an equitable society free from discrimination.
She said three weeks prior to the delegation’s visit President Ali was informed and didn’t object but instead welcomed the team.
“Two weeks or three weeks ago, I sent the President a notice of courtesy and respect, stating that we will be coming to Guyana and noted the allegations relating to the country.
“He did categorically deny all those allegations and said they were false, however in response to our statement he said that he will be looking forward to our visit”, she said.
The Delegation Head said that despite the President’s abrupt objection, the fact-finding mission intends to compile a full report on its finding and it would be good to have the input from the President and the Cabinet.
“But if not, we will just have to conclude our report, based on the information we received from citizens countrywide, Dawkins-Haigler said.
“This report, when compiled will be sent to various entities where we will provide information to the United Nations, White House, to the State Department, to Congress and to the Congressional Black Caucus and to the National Black Caucus of state legislators”.
“All of those entities will receive a report when we have compiled it”, she informed the media.
Former Chair of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. John King III also speaking at the press conference confirmed that following a visit in 2021, he was subsequently informed of the alleged injustices citizens faced on the basis of political affiliation.
He said that there have also been prevailing reports of injustices by the country’s law enforcement agencies towards Afro-Guyanese.
King who is an active member of South Carolina House of Representatives said these allegations are very disheartening but nevertheless the delegation will do its due diligence to verify these claims.
‘I have received numerous emails and messages from people in Guyana concerning this issue and because of that we became concerned”, the Delegation Co-Founder informed.
Dawkins-Haigler added “Even if no one told us to come here, we still would have come here, once we would have seen that there were allegations of atrocities, against the people of this nation”.
King rejoined the conversation and said “We move from place to place over the next few days and as we chat with people, we will ask them provide reports to support these allegations”.
“Importantly many of them prior to our visit sent documents as well so we were fully aware of what is happening”, he said.
Dawkins-Haigler said that the fact-finding mission team will also be meeting with the members of Opposition, including Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and other local organizations.
Georgia State Senator Micheal Rhett; North Carolina General Assembly Representative, Dr. Amber Barker; Georgia State Representative Debra Basemore; Mississippi State Senator Hillman Frazier; Texas State Representative Rhetta Bowers; Kentucky State Senator Gerald Neal; Tennessee State Representative G.A Hardaway; South Carolina House of Representatives, Annie McDaniel; Latron Price Owner of Westside Community Market (LLC), and Founder of Save Ourselves Marcus Coleman are a part of mission.
