Letter: Burnham needs to be remembered

The late former President, Forbes Burnham

Dear Editor,

Someone wrote that Burnham and his legacy need to be thrown into a bin and be forgotten forever, however, I am of a different opinion. Men of the ilk of a Burnham need to be remembered. I am talking about documented and reproduced for all to see, that is, all the atrocities this man committed on the people of this great country. He was a ruthless dictator who championed the ideology of one race being superior to another. It was the doctrine of the Black race being bullies and of the Black race being in the ascendancy. Sadly, that foolishness is still being perpetrated by members of that party.

Yes, we need to know that he led this nation to Independence and into a Republic with the sole aim of dominating the local scene through fraud. And much of what he did was built solely on the strength of the British and Americans who were very complicit with Burnham.

However, I was heartened when they could have seen the true extent and scope of this man and the party he had built. I am talking about the fraud, the divisive politics that was brought to bear on the Guyanese people. It was so overwhelming that they themselves became embarrassed of him, this drove them to take a strong stand against him and put us once again on the democratic road.

Like Papa Doc in Haiti, he ruled by fear and intimidation, putting together that admixture of fear and voodoo. His was an iron fist, with those Blacks who dare oppose him suffering the brunt of his assault. Some like Dr Walter Rodney paid the ultimate price. I do not want to be associated with a man like that nor with the party that he formed.

Even, the Caribbean leaders who were strangely silent during his dictatorship reign could have finally come out of their comatose position and throw their voices in a call for the rule of law and the restoration of democratic rule in Guyana. This was evident when the present bunch of his remnants barefacedly tried to rig the election 2020 when five Caribbean Heads flew in to advise Granger on the way forward. They told him that he had lost the election and it was time for him to step aside and allow democracy to lead the way.

Yes, Burnham needs to be remembered so that never again would this atrocity stalk our land. Never again I say, never again would fraudulent rule take a hold on the Guyanese society. It is our bounding duty to edify our upcoming generation of men and women to know about the horrible past we came out of.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams