Elvin McDavid, an ex-minister of information in the PNC administration, has criticized the organizers of CARIFESTA X for failing to credit the vision of late President Forbes Burnham.
“There are those at the Office of the President and State House who don’t want to acknowledge it,” McDavid said, at a cultural tribute to the former President held on Saturday night at the Triveldt Community Development Centre, Festival City. “They ignored the great man who created it but history has a way of biting,” he added. He credited the success of the first festival, staged in 1972 in Guyana, to Burnham’s leadership, saying that he led by example and inspired the nation to follow him. “We must never, never forget [L.F.S] Burnham because he is the greatest living Guyanese we will ever have,” he said to applause from the small crowd.
McDavid also said Burnham’s policies, once discarded by the current administration, are being quietly re-implemented in new guises. He cited the Guyana National Service (GNS), which he said was being reorganized without a military service component. He also argued that Burnham’s Feed, Clothe and House (FCH) plan has also been adopted by the administration. “As time goes by, it becomes clear that Burnham’s policy was correct for his people,” McDavid said. “Once you care about your people’s development, you have nowhere to go but back to Burnham,” he added.
He painted a dismal picture of the current state of the nation, and the PNC, charging that “the promised land” is farther away from ever before, while “Burnham’s flock is now leaderless!” Nonetheless, he was optimistic that the country could be regained; being sure that Burnham’s spirit was indomitable.
The night featured dances by several small troupes, drumming as well as folk singing. Festival City was built to house the delegates who attended the first CARIFESTA.