A response to the frequent references to dictatorial rule in Guyana

Aug 27, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I consider it necessary to dispatch this letter for publication in your newspaper having read your editorial column of Thursday 28 July captioned “Guyana’s democracy”.
Ever so often in the media and elsewhere, references are made to the period of office of Mr. Forbes Burnham as the Prime Minister and then as the Executive President of Guyana as the era of the dictatorship.
The reality is, that when the PNC/UF Coalition Government assumed office in December 1964, the members of the Peoples’ Progressive Party as the Opposition Party in the legislative body included notable legislators such as Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Mr. Boysie Ram Karran, Mrs. Janet Jagan, Mr. Brindley Benn, Dr. Fenton Ramsahoye (the former Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs) Mr. Ashton Chase, Mr. Reepu Daman Persaud, Mr. Rudy Luck and Mr. Joycelyn Hubbard, the trade unionist and they contributed significantly to the debates.
The public gallery and the seats allocated for the diplomatic and consular corps and other visitors were filled to their capacity on the occasion of the passage of some legislative measures of national importance in which members of the public took a keen interest, for example, the legislation enacted in 1971 enabling the nationalisation of the foreign bauxite companies operating in Guyana and the assumption by the Government in 1976 of full responsibility for the administration of schools aided by the Government and providing primary education.
It is important to emphasise that the legislative body in Guyana continued to function under the Constitution in like manner as many other legislative bodies in the Commonwealth. In the Caribbean there have been Heads of Government of Mr. Burnham’s era that have been labelled as “strong rulers” but not as dictators, for example, Prime Ministers Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, Errol Barrow of Barbados,  Vere Bird of Antigua and Barbuda,  Sir Alexander Bustamante and Edward Seaga of Jamaica.
In the wider Commonwealth of Nations, Presidents Julius Nyrere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, all of whom were Mr. Burnham’s contemporaries and respected and admired him. Incidentally, I recall that the inspiration for the introduction of some form of national service resulted from an official visit to Tanzania by Mr. Burnham during the tenure of office of President Julius Nyrere an acclaimed and highly respected Commonwealth Head of Government and Third World Leader.
Contrary to assertions by certain sections of our society, Mr. Burnham invited dialogue with senior public officials and was persuaded by convincing advice on many occasions to vary a decision or to postpone adopting a particular course
of action or even abandoning it altogether.
He was not inflexible, and I can testify to this from my own experience as Senior Parliamentary Counsel and then Chief Parliamentary Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers with Hon. Shridath Ramphal S.C. as the Attorney-General and the Solicitor General, Dr. Mohamed Shahabudden, S.C., who succeeded Mr. Ramphal on his assumption of the office of Commonwealth Secretary-General.
Mr. Burnham’s Cabinet included Ministers who compared favourably with the best in other Member States of CARICOM and this was also the case with our public officials of that era, in particular, those in the professional and higher administrative grades. Importantly, the legal system established by the Constitution remained intact and the courts functioned with distinguished legal personalities as successive holders of the office of Chancellor of the Judiciary.
The quality of the judiciary was such that it enabled Guyana, coinciding with the birth of the Republic on 23 February 1970, to terminate the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England with respect to most appeals from the Court of Appeal in Guyana.
The remainder – the right to appeal to the Judicial Committee from decisions of Guyana’s Court of Appeal on issues relating to the fundamental rights of individuals guaranteed under the Constitution was abolished in 1973.
The first appointee to the office of Director of Public Prosecutions was Mr. Gordon Gillette Q.C. (later S.C.) and his successor was Mr. Emanuel Romao, S.C.
The appointment of the Director of Public Prosecutions was intended, in the traditions of that office in other Commonwealth countries, to insulate prosecutions in criminal cases from political influence or control.
I considered it necessary to make this intervention when it was stated inter alia in your editorial that the visiting American Professor “was at pains to say that Guyana has moved from being a dictatorship to a democracy” and your subsequent editorial which seemed to concur with the Professor’s assertion.
This letter is intended as a response to the frequent references to dictatorial rule in Guyana during Mr. Burnham’s tenure of office as Head of Government and Head of State.
Brynmor T.I. Pollard, C.C.H, SC.

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