The Forbes Burnham Foundation is incensed that it was denied exhibition space at the National Library at the last minute and feels that there was a directive behind this move.
This has however been denied by the Chief Librarian Emiley King who said she was forced to rescind the permission because of an exhibition the library has at the moment.
“No, no, I spoke…we reviewed our use of our foyer, for our exhibition and we had to deny permission“, King told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
The Foundation in a statement signed by its chairperson Vincent Alexander said it was given permission on April 25th to mount an Independence Commemorative Exhibition from May 23rd to 28th. A site visit was made on May 18th where details were finalized. However, yesterday, minutes before the exhibits were to be mounted a call was received from King who said that permission was being withdrawn since the library needed the facility for its own use.
“The Foundation can only conclude that a directive was handed down to the Librarian to disallow the mounting of the Exhibition by the Burnham Foundation”, the Foundation fumed in the release.
However, King yesterday maintained that no such directive was given but it was just the fact that the library needed the foyer for its own use. Asked if the library was not aware of its own exhibition prior to giving the initial permission to the Foundation, King maintained that the library has an exhibition which is open to the public and invited this journalist to visit to have a look.
She said the exhibition was slated to end on June 3rd and when asked if the Foundation still wanted access to the foyer after that date if they would be allowed she responded: “That is a question I choose not to answer my dear.”
According to a release from the Foundation, it is a non-governmental organisation committed to the commemoration and the memorialization of the life of the Leader who led Guyana to Independence. It said it is now left “with no alternative but to join forces with the true democrats of Guyana in the struggle to reclaim their rightful space and entitlements as citizens of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana”.
