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PNCR gears to observe Burnham’s legacy
The PNCR will, on August 6, observe the 23rd anniversary of the death of its Founder Leader, Mr. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham.
The usual wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the Place of the Seven Ponds.
There will also be a public lecture on “Guyana National Service: Burnham’s Vision – 35 Years After” by Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh, former Director General of the GNS.
The lecture will be delivered on August 6 in the forecourt of the National Congress Women’s office, Public Road, Kitty.
Burnham became the first Executive President of Guyana in 1980, after the country gained Independence in 1966.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was born on February 20, 1923 and died on August 6, 1985.
He led Guyana from 1964 until his death. He was the Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980, and President from 1980 to 1985.
Burnham was born in Kitty, Georgetown and attended the Queen’s College.
In 1942, he won the Guiana Scholarship as the colony’s top student. Burnham received a law degree from the University of London in 1948. He was married to Viola Burnham
He had three children — Roxanne, Annabelle, and Francesca — from his first marriage to Bernice Lataste. His second marriage to Viola produced two daughters, Melanie and Ulele, and later a son, Kamana (adopted).
Burnham was one of the founding leaders of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which was launched on January 1, 1950, when the labour leader Cheddi Jagan became the People’s Progressive Party Leader, while Burnham became its Chairman.
In 1952, Burnham became the president of the party’s affiliated trade union, the British Guiana Labour Union.
In 1953, the PPP won the majority of the seats in the first election permitted by the British Colonial Government.
In the short-lived PPP government that followed, Burnham served as Minister of Education.
In 1955, there was a split in the PPP between Burnham and Jagan, and as a result, Burnham went on to form the People’s National Congress in 1958, entering its first election under that name in 1961.
In the 1964 elections, while Jagan’s PPP won the highest percentage of the votes cast, it did not win a majority, and Burnham was able to form a coalition with the United Force (UF), who won the remaining 12 per cent of the votes, and became Premier of British Guiana on December 14.
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