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Stop beating around the bush – Forbes Burnham was a dictator

Aug 30, 2011 Letters

 

Dear Editor,
Men like Brynmor T.I. Pollard, C.C.H, SC. should not try to fool people (“A response to the frequent references to dictatorial rule in Guyana”, KN, August 27, 2011). The attempt to paint Forbes Burnham as a ‘strong’ leader as opposed to a dictator is absolute trickery by Pollard.
The same Pollard names strong leaders as 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, Presidents Julius Nyrere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore.
Of all of those leaders, Kenneth Kuanda shares the distinction with Burnham as an outright dictator. All of the rest of the ‘strong leaders’ mentioned by Pollard were democratically elected. Forbes Burnham was a dictator. He was not a democratically elected leader in free and fair elections who became a strong leader according to Pollard’s definition.
He got power by nefarious and illegal means and destroyed the country with it.
Pollard points to the fact that an opposition existed. I frankly don’t know how Pollard could attempt to highlight an opposition as something to cheer about. Maybe Pollard does not know but the opposition was formed by Burnham himself based on how many votes he decided to give himself during a given election.
Burnham took his share and the rest formed the opposition. It meant that Burnham decided the size of the Opposition.
Pollard has to be seriously deranged to come here and talk about debates in Parliament during the PNC days. The inevitable reality was that the PNC always got their way in Parliament after rigging the election.
Pollard delivers this absolute gem: “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.” A legislative body functioning under a corrupt Constitution is nothing to celebrate.
A Parliament created out of electoral theft has no validity and definitely not under a fraudulent Constitution crafted specifically to enhance the powers of a single man (the President) above all else. Pollard should mention that many other legislative bodies were elected in free and fair elections.
I don’t care which world leader respected Forbes Burnham. The majority of his own people did not. That is what matters. Burnham sought the respect of other world leaders but did nothing to earn the respect of his own people whom he left in a cesspool of suffering.
While Burnham may have changed his mind sometimes, he did not change his mind on the most critical issues affecting this country including democracy, economic betterment, free and fair elections, etc. Burnham was inflexible to these demands.
Pollard’s boast about the quality of Burnham’s Cabinet and of the quality of public officials emphasizes the absolute disaster that Burnham was. For despite this claimed quality of personnel, Forbes Burnham still sent this country down a dark terrible hole. It is like the PPP of today boasting of the morally upright leadership it possesses.
Enough to create unending fits of laughter. The quality of the Guyanese judiciary is not the reason why Burnham removed the right of appeal to the Privy Council. Pollard should stop trying to spin cobwebs and pull wool over the people’s eyes.
That right of appeal was removed out of naked power. Burnham controlled the courts and did not want any outside influence over his power. Brynmor Pollard has some brazen nerve to pen this stuff to the public.
M. Maxwell

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