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“Bharat Jagdeo is actually lucky that Guyana is not a democracy like that of the United States, or he would have gotten the death penalty, or he would have been in jail for life,” was the retort by the President of the Caribbean Institute for Democracy (CGID), Rickford Burke, who was livid during a discussion on Sherod Duncan’s ‘In The Ring’ social media program.
Burke was at the time addressing video excerpts by Guyana’s Vice President (VP) Bharat Jagdeo. In one such excerpt the VP said, “If we were a democracy like that of the United States of America, Granger and Cathy Hughes, Ramjattan and Patterson, Harmon, and a whole gang of them would have probably been before the court now.” VP Jagdeo was speaking at the time during his weekly press conference.
The CGID President said he was honored that the VP’s weekly press conferences are all about him and the work he is doing across the United States advocating for equity for African Guyanese in every sector of Guyana’s Economy. Burke, in addressing the comments alleged, “He, Jagdeo, and his government, at his directive, killed over fourteen hundred young black men, formed death squads, tortured people, killed them, extrajudicially murdered them, and committed political assassinations.”
Burke added that the VP likes to talk about who should be in jail: “Bharat Jagdeo should be in jail because he formed death Squads that murdered people, he shouldn’t even speak, he shouldn’t be in office, he is a killer, that man was condemned by the Bush administration for having death squads that killed people. Burke stated that Jagdeo is lawless and uncivil for holding a press conference to talk about a former president’s health.
Burke quizzed, “What about his bills when he, ‘Jagdeo’ was Opposition Leader and he was flown to Miami? Did the government pay for that? They chartered a flight.” The comments came as the VP sat at his press conference and narrated that his government is paying for former President David Granger’s medical bills.
Burke queried why Jadgeo does not speak of the former Heads of State who were East Indians and how much Guyana pays their medical bills. “It’s the hypocrisy. The thing about it is that every black leader in the country, he wants to belittle,” Burke stated. Burke slammed Guyanese leaders, also, for not addressing the Vice President’s Thursday “cuss out”. Burke said, “The whole country should be asking why Bharat Jagdeo is not in jail. You know why, because Guyana is not a democracy,” Burke said.
