Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to the letter of Ms. Lurlene Nestor, published in Kaieteur News of 27/12/07 under the caption ” Let us not try to play up a great leader by playing down the contribution of another ” and also in Stabroek News of the same date under the caption ” Burnham should have been honoured by parliament as well as Jagan.”
Ms. Nestor seems to want us to ignore a large part of our history by making such a suggestion.
The PNC under Mr. Desmond Hoyte as president, were still the government and had since the 6 th August, 1985 when Burnham died until October, 1992 to move such a motion to honour the memory of Forbes Burham had they wished to do so, but as a matter of fact after his death, leaders of the PNC seemed to have a reluctance to even mention his name. So why should the PPP/C confer such an honour now, I pray?
There is nothing stopping, even at this late stage, the PNCR-1G in introducing a motion to do so, giving the reasons why they feel he should be be so honoured.
It was considered a spurious exercise open to serious doubts as to the procedure in regards to naming Burnham the Caribbean man of the 20th century and no Caribbean leaders and people seem to have recognized or given credence to it.
Further, and lastly for now, Ms. Nestor says that ” with reference to rigged elections, I am quite sure you know that the only substantiated claim of fraudulent elections held in Guyana was the 1997 elections, in which the PPP/C was declared the victor. That election was deemed null and void by the High Court, owing to many irregularities.”
This is simply not accurate. The Court found that the elections were null and void because of the use of voters’ ID cards, to which all the parliamentary parties had agreed, including the PNC, and which the Constitution did not permit, but which the PNC used in its efforts, including street violence, to try to overturn the elections. The Court did not rule on the validity of the elections commission’s declaration of the votes cast for each party.
Further, the results of the elections were verified by the Caricom Audit Commission, comprising eminent persons of the Caricom Community, which found that no fraudulent ballots were cast and that the results reflected the will of the people. Thus, the victory of the PPP/C in the 1997 elections was verified, in effect, three times. One by the Elections Commission, two by the Caricom Audit Commission and three by the Court which did not rule on the validity of the ballots and votes cast for each party.
The several rigged elections under the PNC have been verified by local and international observers, beyond the shadow of a doubt, including the British Parliamentary Observer Group, and in the two documentary films of the independent UK Granada Television Company, as well as by Mr. Peter d’Aguiar himself, the leader and other executives of the United Force, which had formed the 1964 Coalition government with the People’s National Congress to get and keep Cheddi Jagan’s People’s Progressive Party out of legitimate office.
Yours faithfully,
John Da Silva