New Political Culture

Aug 20, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
The late President of Cooperative Republic of Guyana. Forbes Burnham, is properly regarded as the brightest beacon among Caribbean Leaders.
PNC/Reform ideology, that is, the body of ideas we use to understand and work out solutions to challenges, is Burnhamite. The PNC/Reform, leadership is a combination of the right ideas and the right action at the right time.
PNC/Reform believes that the vision of young people is most important if the party is to serve all age groups and be a force for the future.
This why the PNC/Reform keeps away from one-man or one-person leadership is because we emphasize culture and cultural expressions and to encourage the masses to participate directly.
Mr. Burnham’s vision that his purpose of the PNC is to abolish poverty. He will feed the hungry with his Government surplus milk and cassava. He will find employment for the unemployed. He would exploit the country’s resources, by making a country prosperous.
Before the unemployment problem can be solved, experts must be brought into the country to assess the situation.
Mr. Burnham summing up his position, said that he is in favour of Government entering industry and encouraging private enterprise. But Government must have the final responsibility for economic development.
He insists that the PNC will produce an economic policy in due course and that it will banish poverty.
Mr. Burnham’s aims, the aims of the Party, will be to abolish poverty. The first thing we are going to do immediately after we assume the reigns of Government is to arrange that not a single man, woman or child goes to bed hungry.
Mr. Burnham’s views and his Party’s view, any economic development of British Guiana must be aimed at giving the ordinary man a share in the output.
When it comes to drawing up an economic programme what he prepared was that we will accelerate and encourage industrial development, Government taking part in certain sectors, Government cooperating with private industry in other sectors, to take an active part, while government at the back and in the final event, remain entirely responsible for economic policy and development.
Mr. Burnham had a conviction, glibly, about doing this and doing that, so many millions or so many billions of dollars until we know what we have and decide how we’ll use what we have.
It must be recognized, so far as his Party’s views – national resources are not developed by magic. We shall need human skills, which will have to be trained and while these are being trained in some cases, we shall have to face the fact that we shall have to import experts until such time as our people are trained.
Mr. Burnham had great faith in the people of Guyana, that they will react to our sincerity, and react to our intelligent and modern approach.
Yours sincerely,
Sherwood Clarke