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 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 Hakim 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 there 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. 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. I firmly believe that Congressman Jeffries missed a good opportunity to raise the “concerns’ of his constituents with the Guyana Government. He should have met with President Ali, but as Clyde Walcott use 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 characterized our relations over the years.
Sincerely,
Wesley Kirton
