President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday disclosed that during his recent interaction with United States Congressman, Hakeem Jeffries, he got the opportunity to school the politician on the reality in Guyana.
Congressman Jeffries is a US Democratic Party top leader in the House of Representatives. He is a representative of parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York, which is home to a large Guyanese population, and has been making public statements about discrimination in Guyana – a narrative that is being peddled by the PNC-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Opposition.
During a visit to Washington DC in July 2022, President Ali had invited the Congressman to a meeting but he never responded to the invite.
However, Jeffries was one of the special guests at the 45th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Meeting held earlier this week in Trinidad and Tobago. While there, President and the US Congressman met briefly.
Questioned about the nature of the engagement, President Ali told reporters on Friday on the sidelines of an event that he used the opportunity to educate the US politician on the situation in Guyana.
“We had repeatedly sought to educate Congressman Jeffries about Guyana and about the narrative that may have misled [him]. So, I was happy that I had the opportunity to meet him and to once, again, invite him to a meeting and to seek any concerns he would have had and to educate him on Guyana, and not myself alone, I was happy that other leaders were there so let him have a fuller understanding, a truer understanding, a more meaningful understanding about Guyana and what we’re about,” the Guyanese Leader explained.
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley; Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves; and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowely, were among the regional leaders present during the engagement with Jeffries on the sidelines of the CARICOM conference in Port-of-Spain.
According to the Guyanese Head of State, Congressman Jeffries lend a “listening ear” during the brief encounter. “I made it clear to him that we have all the statistics [and] information, anything that will help him in understanding the truth and the reality,” he added.
The President noted that while the engagement was not extensive, he did indicate to the US politician that he will be in Washington soon and will open his agenda for a more formal meeting between them.
On his return from Washington last year, President Ali had lashed out at the ongoing narrative, which he says can damage the country’s reputation – something which the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration has been working tirelessly to repair since assuming office in 2020.
“You have all these reckless statements… when we’re advancing the specific cause and results for our country. What are they trying to achieve? I promised myself I will not address it but it had to because it must not continue without being addressed… I have been working hard every single day on the international circuit to build that trust, and bring back that trust and confidence in our country. Let me tell the naysayers something, it is not easy to go into a room to hear about your country’s democracy records and election records as negative against your country. And we have to spend hours dismantling that negative perception about our country. It is not easy and I sit there for hours, painstakingly positioning this country where it rightfully belongs,” the Guyanese Leader had stated last August.
