Burnham via rose-coloured glasses

Dear Editor,
It is both alarming and disappointing to see how quickly some Guyanese are willing to forget or, worse, revise our own history. Recently, I’ve noticed people speaking of Forbes Burnham as though he were some model of justice and fairness, especially when comparing him to the current leadership of the PNC. This sort of revisionist nostalgia is not only misguided but dangerous.
Let us not forget who Burnham truly was. He began as a member of the PPP but tried to force himself into leadership – “an early sign” of his hunger for power. In the 1964 elections, though the PPP won the largest number of seats (24 out of 53), Burnham conspired with the United Force (UF) to form a coalition and take power. Is this the “just” Burnham we now praise?
Then came the 1980 Constitution: Burnham’s masterpiece of control. He replaced the Westminster-style system with a hybrid model that handed near-absolute executive authority to the central government, tipping the balance entirely in favour of the executive arm. Under this new constitution, he even made post-election coalitions illegal, which is ironic, given that coalition politics was his own pathway to power in 1964. Yet he conveniently kept voting rights for Commonwealth citizens intact.
And let us not ignore his timing of Independence Day. Burnham declared independence on May 26, 1966, not because of any symbolic significance, but to erase the memory of the Wismar Massacre two years earlier, when scores of Indo-Guyanese were killed and driven from their homes in an event that forever scarred our nation. The area was later renamed after Burnham himself.
For context, the Guyana Independence Act was passed on May 12, 1966, and the statutory instrument on May 16th, meaning independence could have been declared on any of those dates. Yet May 26th was chosen, conveniently close to that dark anniversary.
So when Odessa Primus says that Burnham must be “rolling in his grave” over Aubrey’s actions, one must wonder, does she truly understand who Burnham was? Or is it that Azruddin Mohamed’s flaws are so easily overlooked that she can also overlook Burnham’s?
It is time we stop looking at history through rose-coloured glasses. Guyanese deserve truth, not mythmaking.

Yours sincerely,
Nalinie Singh