In his letter, Dr Persaud attacked the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) and me personally. His consternation with CGID flows from our warranted criticism of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) government in Guyana. He has been evidently commissioned to "take on" CGID. Time has now permitted me to respond.

What are his motives for attacking CGID on the eve of general elections in Guyana? He is an incorrigible supporter of the ruling PPP. We have said previously that the PPP regime is mediocre, corrupt, inept and malfeasant. We have unremittingly exposed the wrongdoings of this government. Our mission to promote and monitor good governance in the Caribbean region requires this high level of vigilance, scrutiny and analysis.

CGID has become a target of the Guyana government and its supporters. At a recent press conference in New York, Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, in a tone strikingly resonant with Dr Persaud's letter, attacked CGID and me. Throughout the life of the Institute their attacks have been relentless but in vain. Now Dr Randy Persaud has been retained to engage in public relations work in the United States as part of the PPP's election campaign. There are allegations that his Party work is being funded by the government. He should address these allegations.

Randy Persaud is no impartial observer. He has a lucrative commission which has invigorated his selfish interests in PPP partisan politics. He has revealed his colors as a rabid PPP propagandist and apologist, deceptively swathed in the robe of a tenured professor at The American University. Even in this capacity he cannot contain his fanaticism and facile outbursts.

It is manifested in his attempts to be the PPP "pit-bull" in Washington. Whispers of his ambitions and of a certain promise from the government have reached my hearing. However, let me remind him of the words of Aristotle: "I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self."

The letter contained a litany of charges against CGID. One alleges that CGID statements consist of "half truths and half lies." Another is that "CGID does not need evidence for any of its claims. Facts are irrelevant. Instead, innuendos are rampant. Adumbrations are sufficient. All and sundry are a priori." He then contended that "What the CGID has mastered is the production and circulation of stories, stories which are mostly baseless."

Contrary to his assumptions about CGID, Randy Persaud's obvious unfamiliarity with material disseminated by the Institute demonstrates that his thinking is not a posteriori. His letter is conclusively a hastily cobbled-together response to instructions from Georgetown. It is a tale of purely borrowed, spurious information. He has not proffered one example of falsehood or factual inaccuracy on the part of the Institute to substantiate his claims.

I therefore challenge him to "put his horse before the cart" and credibly contest the veracity of the conclusions of CGID. List the half truths and baseless stories which you mentioned, Dr.Persaud.

He has also declared CGID to be "The most sophisticated propaganda factory" he has encountered in Caribbean politics." Then, as if under an opulent delusion, he pretended to be the Einstein who has unearthed the communications strategy behind the Institute's success. Imbued with a self-indulgent sense of accomplishment, he rushed to "stop press" to disclose his discovery. He also dispatched his harangue to his PPP colleagues, with the comment: "Please find attached an article on the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy."

This "article" is a regurgitation of the talking points from President Bharrat Jagdeo and his Public Relations Liaison, Robert Persaud. This has been their mantra since the founding of CGID. Randy Persaud has therefore put forward an embarrassing piece of unoriginal, plagiaristic work which casts him as a pseudo academic. His thoughtless appeal to "Beware of CGID Propaganda" is nothing but the propagandistic rhetoric of a jaundiced, indolent mind. Dismiss it with hilarity.

His obsession is with what he called CGID's "brilliant" communications strategy, which he labeled a "bad thing." The fact that the Institute can get its message out to the international community has translated to a bugbear for Dr. Persaud and his PPP cohorts. They despise this and are out to stop us, but I dare them.

Our communications posture may very well be sophisticated but it is not dissimilar from the actions of any entity that is media savvy and must employ the best of modern technology and methods of communication to disseminate its message. What we say, when we say it, to whom we say it or how we say, is no secret. This is clear to all who fall within our sphere of communication. Therefore, this well timed, purportedly grand discovery of Dr Randy Persaud is nothing but an unimaginative attempt to preemptively discredit CGID's comments on the elections. Thus, for being the "so-called" discoverer of the CGID communication strategy, we nominate Dr. Randy Persaud for the mock Sherlock Homes Mystery Prize of the Century.

Suffice it to say that the letter is a manifestation of an insipid mind with no brain-power that finds sustenance in an atmosphere of paranoia. It is this state of extremism that has driven PPP officials to, in response to our criticism, contact journalists, media entities, organizatio ns and politicians, regionally and internationally, to request that they refrain from engaging CGID and stop publishing our information. Correspondingly, President Bharrat Jagdeo's attacks on the Institute as well as Randy Persaud's mendacious accusations are an acknowledgement that they're worried to death about our ability to communicate to the regional and international press, and our access to US government officials and world leaders. They are also troubled that government violations of international human rights laws, corruption and blatant criminal conduct are being transmitted to the international community by CGID.

Their intellectually bankruptcy cannot facilitate their participation in the arena of ideas. Instead, they launch personal attacks and recklessly attempt to kill the exercise of free speech. They descend to gutter politics, character assassination and other smear tactics. But conversely, they are saddled with the most dirty laundry in politics and their sordid characters suppress the moral standing of the nation.  Their dangerous actions in killing free speech, being played out in the context of the Mark Benschop imprisonment and the Ronald Waddle assassination, both conquered journalists who were critics of the government, have created a demonic environment that must be rooted out.

Moreover, the PPP government has been characterized by death squads, ethnic cleansing and racial triumphalism. These evils thrive in a milieu of an evolving ethnocracy and a nefarious ambition to, in a totalitarian fashion, dominate the entire political spectrum. In this era of democratic transformations, it is this government, with a foothold in the abysmal nether-world of socialist despotism, that Dr. Randy Persaud proudly represents.

Randy Persaud's PPP has been manufacturing macabre correspondences to United States government officials, including to the US Departments of Justice and State, as well as to the Mayor and City Council Speaker of New York City. They contain false, slanderous claims about me and other CGID Board members and demand that I be removed from government for "beheading" and "raping" Indians in Guyana, etc. These letters are laden with code words which are intended to alarm the subliminal mind.

This is the purpose of their "Jihad." They encourage their supporters to vilify CGID members on PPP-leaning websites and have even called for the execution individuals. This is the fanaticism with which this Professor of the American University associates and defends.

Professor Persaud has brazenly claimed that CGID "is an arm of the PNC/R but it assumes the posture of neutrality" and that CGID is all about "how great the PNC was/is." This is a concoction of hogwash and ignorance. It singularly demonstrates his ignorance about the Institute and that, like a marionette, he blindly follows his puppet masters.

This claim is as ludicrous as it is laughable, but not surprising. Anyone or entity, including organizations, international financial institutions, foreign governments, the media et al, that disapproves of this government's policies is automatically branded "PNC" or opposition. The PPP hyper-ventilates and goes into epigastric distress at the mere hint of criticism. Their perennial response to condemnation is to attack the messenger rather that undergo serious introspection.

Obviously Dr Persaud has not followed the work of the Institute. How can this gentleman claim to be an academic and yet display the tendencies of pseudo-intellectualism. I challenge him to provide his evidence to prove that CGID is an arm of the PNC. I further challenge Dr Persaud to provide the evidence where CGID has said "how great the PNC was/is."

Criticism of a government is not automatic affiliation to the governmental opposition. This is an unrefined view of the political process. CGID does not focus on the PNC in Guyana. The PNC is not in government, the PPP is. By virtue of being in office, it must account for its government and subject its policies to open scrutiny.

The fact is that CGID has never said how good the PNC is. We have criticized the PNC on several occasions. We criticized their mishandling of the Mark Benschop case. We condemned their withdrawal from the constructive dialogue process with President Jagdeo. We criticized their disorganized protests after the 2001 elections. Last I harshly condemned the PNC's decision to participate in these elections, and labeled that Party "rudderless, hopeless and visionless."

Additionally, the Guyana government is not the only government we have criticized. This is the conclusion of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, following complains about CGID by a PPP official. CGID has been engaged in the wider Caribbean region. We have criticized many other governments, including the United States, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, although he have a very favorable view of the Dominican Prime Minister, and Jamaica. Further, we have been highly critical of the CARICOM countries that enter into the Petro-Carib arrangement with Venezuela, which possibly affects intra-regional trade.

Most important however, I quote the words of Mr Robert Antoine, the CGID Director of Communications, a Grenadian, who last week responded to Trinidadian Parliamentarian, Harry Partap. "The membership of CGID comprises individuals from Guyana, T&T, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominica, Nevis, Costa Rica, Antigua, the USA, St. Vincent, and the Bahamas.

We are strongly committed to good governance in the Caribbean region, deeper regional integration and the holistic development of the Caribbean, as well as a more favorable United States foreign policy towards the region.  Hence the scope of CGID is as vast and wide-ranging as the region itself." I fail to see how these many distinguished Caribbean nationals could be "PNC."

I believe my statement that "Guyana's continuance on the path of uncontrollable, unsolved murders, executions and serious crime is a direct product of the culture of criminality and lawlessness spawned by the official sanctioning of criminal enterprises," to be incontrovertible. If Dr Persaud has evidence to contest this conclusion he must put it on the table. His mere statement of disagreement rings hollow. He must present the facts at his disposal to disprove CGID. I urge him to do so immediately.

Randy Persaud's harping on our annual award ceremonies, which attract world leaders, sounds like a sourpuss pregnant with the child of enmity. It is consistent with attempts by the PPP government to discourage special guests from attending CGID functions but only to be forcefully rebuffed. The fact is that Randy Persaud and the PPP are incensed by CGID's effective exposure of wrongdoing in the Guyana government. This is the first time in history that an organization with regional and international appeal persistently demanded accountability in the PPP government. They hate us for being a watchdog.

Furthermore, Dr Persaud should ascertain from Ronald Gajraj and Bharrat Jagdeo the number and names of persons killed by the "Phantom death squad." They may have the correct statistics. CGID does not operate death squads. However we have confidence in the data we have disseminated. It is up to Randy Persaud to disprove our figures and then tell us what numbers of executions are acceptable. His close proximity to the source may be an advantage.

Rickford Burke
President
Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID)