HENRY Jeffrey and David Hinds, on different occasions, have echoed the foolishness that the Irfaan Ali Government is the most undemocratic government in post-Independence Guyana. When these rebuttals here are read, even if one Guyanese, in or out of the land, reads them, then that justifies the continuation of responding to the naked crudities of anti-government crude men.
I lived under the regime of Forbes Burnham from 1968 until he rightfully died in 1985. To compare Burnham’s tenure with those of Hoyte’s, Cheddi Jagan’s, Janet Jagan’s, Bharrat Jagdeo and Irfaan Ali’s is literally an impossible mental task. The Forbes Burnham Government had unlimited moments of demented and demonic characteristics never before seen in the CARICOM family and no government since Burnham’s death has embodied even one per cent of the totalitarian showcase of the Burnham regime.
To conclude, as Jeffrey and Hinds did, the Ali presidency is the worst post-Independence government, is to wallow in mental miasma. Burnham’s totalitarian output was beyond imagination when it began to unfold. In Guyana today, we have people who make the claim that the Ali presidency is worse than Burnham’s and since the population is a young one, it is obligatory on public intellectuals who lived through the saga of Burnham’s bestial oppression to write and keep on writing.
If the Ali presidency had produced zero-point nine per cent of Burnham’s autocratic output, the condemnations would have become non-stop. To describe the madness that engulfed Burnham’s rule would take books rather than two or three newspaper columns.
Do you think any PPP president since Cheddi Jagan could have declared that the ruling PPP party is legally and constitutionally paramount over state institutions? Burnham did just that. He concretised the embodiment of the paramount PNC within the state structure by inventing a ministry named National Development and in that ministry was a branch of the PNC.
In each of the state corporations that came out of the nationalised industries, there was a party cadre without even a modicum of qualification or business knowledge overlooking qualified management. Yesu Persaud, in part one of his autobiography, wrote of this political interference. Can one imagine what would happen in Guyana today if the PPP put an unqualified PPP cadre without any official or bureaucratic position to oversee the state bodies like the NIS, Forestry Commission, GRA, GWI etc?
Two books have been published recently and both authors are intertwined with the opposition WPA, and their description of the horror show the Burnham Government was is a graphic testimony of the propagandistic hate of those who obfuscate the terror that characterised Burnham’s time as ruler in Guyana.
Dr Maurice Odle’s autobiography, “An Eventful Life,” and Moses Bhagwan’s memoir, “Enter the Political Kingdom”, described what they personally endured and how Guyana suffered under Burnham. But for me, the best text on how frightening the Burnham Government remained was the masterpiece by Father Andrew Morrison, “Justice: The struggle for Democracy in Guyana, 1952 -1992.”
On the front cover of this book is a mob running after Father Bernard Darke to attack him. In the photograph, can be seen a man with a long knife in his hand. They caught up with the priest and killed him. This is a seminal work on Guyana’s history and I would suggest that the Government of Guyana should seek its reprint and have it distributed freely through Guyana.
Our population is too young to understand the destruction of Guyana under Burnham. Father Morrison’s book should have been made available to all Guyanese as a gift from their country on the 60th anniversary of Guyana’s Independence. No written document has so graphically captured the oppressive system of government under Burnham as Father Morrison’s book.
Burnham’s formidable grip on power came with the 1968 rigged election. It was from there on that the descent into totalitarianism started. There were no moments of pause. Burnham drifted from one autocratic policy to another and it didn’t stop until his death. There are some frightening yet sad moments in the rule of Burnham that makes a person look stupid to say that the Ali presidency is a worse government than Burnham’s.
One of these episodes was Burnham riding on horseback in South Georgetown, sharing out cassava sticks and scarce cigarettes to people who would run after the horse to get the cigarettes. Then there was the sadistic instinct of Burnham riding his horse upon government employees who were compelled to work every weekend at Hope Estate. Burnham would laugh widely as the workers ran for cover. A photograph of this madness is contained in Ashton Chase’s book “Guyana, a nation in transit: Burnham’s role.” The Caribbean will never see an autocracy again, as the one Burnham created.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
