Dear Editor,
Thanks for publishing my letter ‘We should be honest about Burnham’s contributions’ in your edition of August 13. I wish to state, however, that an error was made in attributing Mr
Burnham’s involvement for the success of famous Guyanese cricketers like “Messrs Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Joe Solomon, Ivan Madray,” since these men were already playing cricket before Mr Burnham became involved in creating a national sports policy that included the sugar estates. It is true Mr Burnham toppled the class barriers in the sugar industry, which give the sugar workers access to the same community facilities as the estates’ upper echelons and allowed their sporting talent to shine.
Another important and oft overlooked aspect of Mr Burnham is the nationalisation of the sugar company where Guyanese saw for the first time an Indian Guyanese in the person of Mr Yesu Persaud, heading a sugar company.
Yours faithfully,
Humphrey Charles
