GUYANA | PPP Blocks Burnham Foundation Independence Commemorative Exhibition says Alexander

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica May 23, 2022 - Chairman of the Forbes Burnham Foundation Vincent Alexander says the People's Progressive Party Civic's (PPPC) Jagdeo-Ali administration has blocked its attempt to mount an Independence Commemorative Exhibition featuring former president Linden Forbes Burnham from May 23 to 28 in the Foyer of the National Library.

In a media release, Alexander said permission was sought and received and a site visit was made to the National Library on May 18, when arrangements were made to have the exhibition mounted.

However, this morning minutes before the exhibition was to be mounted, the Foundation received a phone call from the Chief Librarian, in which she indicated that permission was being withdrawn since the Library needed the facility for its own use.

“The Foundation can only conclude that a directive was handed down to the Librarian to disallow the mounting of the Exhibition by the Burnham Foundation. The PPPC once again shows its dictatorial hand in its attempt to rewrite Guyana's history and to impose itself on the people of Guyana through  the total control of the political, social and economic landscape, while the President mouths “One Guyana” for local and Global consumption,” said the Forbes Burnham Foundation chairman.

Mr. Alexander said “the Burnham Foundation, which is a non-governmental organization committed to the commemoration and the memorialization of the life of the Leader who lead Guyana to Independence, is left with no alternative but to join forces with the true democrats of Guyana in the struggle to reclaim their rightful space and entitlements as citizens of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.”

Burnham was an Afro-Guyanese who became Premier of British Giuana in 1964, guided the country to independence on the 26th of May 1966 when the then British Guiana became an independent country and was renamed "Guyana".

He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980 and then as its first Executive President from 1980 to 1985.

Throughout his presidency, he encouraged Guyanese to produce and export more local goods, especially through the use of state-run corporations and agricultural cooperatives.

Despite being widely regarded as one of the principal architects of  postcolonial Guyana, his presidency was nonetheless marred by repeated accusations of afrocentrism, as opposed to the indo-centrism which the primarily Indian based Peoples Political Party (PPP) is repeatedly charged with practicing whenever the party is in power.

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