Press release from U.S. delegation contradicts Dee Dawkins-Haigler’s comments on Burke/CGID

Former Chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Dee Dawkins-Haigler, the founder of a group that calls itself the Organization of World Leaders (OWL), continues to maintain that the entity is not affiliated with activist Rickford Burke and his organisation, the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID).

As a matter of fact, Dawkins-Haigler claimed that she and her delegation are unaware of Burke’s organisation, and that they’ve never met or interacted.

“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.

“Our concerns are deepened due to the complaints we have received of us being aligned and I will make it clear we are not aligned to Mr. Rickford Burke,” Dawkins-Haigler contended during a press conference at the Critchlow Labour College in Georgetown on Tuesday.

She further added, “No one on this delegation has ever met Rickford Burke in person and none of these people that is sitting beside me has ever had a conversation with him.”

But a press release from OWL on November 11 referenced a conference about issues in Guyana that Burke organised in Washington, DC, and it was that conference that formed the basis for Dawkins-Haigler and her delegation to visit the South American nation on a “fact-finding” mission following allegations of discrimination and racism.

“The team said that it has seen presentations made by Members of Parliament, Mr. Roysdale Forde S.C., Mr. David Patterson, Mrs. Dawn Hastings-Williams and Mrs. Catherine Hughes, made at the Washington Conference on Guyana,  which took place in Washington last September,” OWL press release had noted.

The U.S. delegation arrived in Guyana on Monday night and during the press conference, Dawkins-Haigler rebuffed President Dr Irfaan Ali’s refusal to meet the group because of the alleged ties to Burke.

Burke, a Guyanese residing in the U.S., is a hardline critic against the PPP/C government and two wanted bulletins have been issued for his arrest here.

In an invited comment, President Dr. Irfaan Ali told the News Room that his government stands, “as it always has, ready to participate in meaningful discussions with recognised State actors and unbiased participants” and he does not recognise the group coming.

“As President, I have led a government that follows successive PPP governments in which inclusion, development and inclusivity form the core of our value system.

“One only needs to reflect on the composition of the executive, the judiciary, the legislature, the public service, the joint services, and all other State agencies or semi-autonomous agencies and that will speak for itself,” Dr Ali told the News Room.