Dear Editor,
This elderly citizen pondered about the excitement surrounding him (and others) of the spirit and symbols of independence – led by Burnham, his first President, who had made him proud to be Guyanese, and no longer British Guianese, fifty years ago. He wondered where he should go to pay homage to what he described as his ‘liberator’.
Then he reflected: and what about Burnham’s successor who, whether deliberately or unwittingly, displayed his humility by accommodating his presidential status in the confines of his own private residence. Surely, he exclaimed, the generations who lived at the time of Desmond Hoyte (and those who followed) would wish to see some appropriate celebratory remembrance of these two heroes.
And while the former’s residence has been transformed into an art gallery, history demanded that the latter’s home should earn the status of a national heritage abode, and at least be bedecked with the symbols of celebration by the party which inherited his vision and direction, that brought the latter to the current mood of exhilaration.
The elderly citizen’s nostalgia certainly seems to have some merit.
Yours faithfully,
E B John