Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin has submitted a motion calling for the National Assembly to give due recognition to the late President, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham for his “extraordinary and outstanding career as a Guyanese leader”.

Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham

Corbin’s motion which is due to be heard tomorrow highlighted Burnham’s roles as a parliamentarian, in the formation and development of the major political parties, in the independence struggle and as “a major architect of the Caribbean integration movement, as exemplified by his role in the formation of CARIFTA, in 1968, CARICOM, in 1973 and various other initiatives for the strengthening of Caribbean unity including, the promotion and hosting in Guyana of the first Caribbean Festival of Arts, CARIFESTA, in 1972.”

The motion’s second resolve clause also urges that the National Assembly gives due recognition to the service of Burnham to the Assembly and Guyana by requesting the Government to have prepared and published a collection of his speeches spanning his tenure in the Assembly for display in the Library of the Assembly. Corbin’s motion also recommended that the National Assembly agrees to the commissioning and display in the chambers of the National Assembly of full-sized portraits of each of the Presidents of Guyana.

It was further advocated that the National Assembly calls on the Government to designate a state institution to be responsible for historical research and documentation to chronicle and archive all of the works of each of the Presidents of Guyana for the benefit of future generations of Guyanese.

The 6th of August 2008 will mark Burnham’s 23rd death anniversary. Burnham died while serving as Guyana’s first Executive President.