LEADER of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Mr David Granger has promised to make the Forbes Burnham Research Institute a reality.

He was at the time speaking on the occasion of the 28th Death Anniversary of Mr. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, Founder Leader of the PNCR and First Executive President of Guyana.

Granger said the Research Institute was necessary to keep the Burnham legacy alive so that this and future generations could understand who he was, what he did and the role he played in the development of Guyana. He said the Research Institute would be a repository of everything that the PNCR succeeded in doing during the period 1964 – 1992.

The PNCR leader told the gathering at the commemorative service which was planned by the National Congress of Women (NCW), the women’s arm of the PNCR, that Mr. Burnham brought Guyana a message that was visionary and forward looking. Granger chronicled the many achievements and the many visionary accomplishments of the Burnham-led PNCR Government including: the establishment of the Institute for de-colonisation; the decolonisation of Guyana’s education system; CARICOM; the Liberation struggle for Southern Africa; national self reliance; rural electrification; the Canje Bridge; the Demerara Harbour Bridge; the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; the Corentyne Highway and the many other coastal roads.
Granger said Burnham’s commitment to the decolonisation of the education system in Guyana saw the establishment of the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus; the Cyril Potter College of Education; and the many Multilateral Schools and other secondary schools that were built by self-help. He explained that Guyana National Service was established by Mr. Burnham not only to address the serious youth unemployment problem that faced the nation, but also to give Guyanese youths a second chance at gaining an education.

Granger also called for a reprinting and reproduction of all of the works of Forbes Burnham so that there could be a greater understanding of the direction in which Guyana was travelling. To loud applause, he told the gathering that Forbes Burnham was not dead but “a living idea that gives us hope and continues to inspire”, and called on all to fulfil his vision of trying to achieve a good life for all Guyanese.