Dear Editor,
A recent headline in a newspaper: ‘Water from Trinidad; cane juice from Canada’ has stimulated quite a few lively and heated discussions here and there. As expected former President Forbes Burnham was centre stage in these debates: “Had he been alive these ridiculous things we are witnessing would not have been”, his loyal admirers shouted. And so there were those in support of him and what he tried to achieve as against those who, though they thought that some of his ideas, philosophy and endeavours were excellent, considered he did it all his way and through his blunders caused this nation discomfort.
In giving Jack his jacket, I’d say Burnham went out on a limb, and experimented somewhat with a cultural revolution, which has its merits and demerits. As a mortal man he was not infallible, which he acknowledged, and he admitted to making blunders, eg, the scrapping of the railway. I can’t say if history is always fair to everyone, though I hope all things will be weighed equally. Now there were a number of projects, programmes and ventures that were initiated by him: a canning factory ‒ we once produced Guycan orange juice, pineapple chunks and other canned foods; a Lidco milk plant; a packaging plant; a bicycle factory; soap production; potatoes from Cato; cotton from Kimbia; a claybrick factory; carambola and mixed fruit products; Family Delight; Cerex; free education from nursery to university; eat what you produce/buy local products, etc. These are some that I can recall. Some of these products I would agree were not totally top of the line, but they were not that sub-standard either, and as with any new undertaking it is understandable that perfection comes with trial and error, hence it stands to reason it was just a matter of time.
I am very thankful for Hemwant Persaud’s refreshing reminder which was somewhat nostalgic and really stirred the mind: ‘Fedna Stoll could get no support locally for his unique method of food preservation’ (SN August 24). While it was a delight it was also sad. Captain Fedna Stoll was the inventor of a unique method of food preservation in the ʼ80s, but failed to get support and funding from the government. Persaud added to an impressive list of local produce, companies, factories; some I had clearly forgotten: Gobin’s establishment – Buffalo jeans; Guyana Refrigerators Limited; the match factory ‒ Lighthouse; the Tapir van, among many others. Good heavens, who could say where we could have been if only all of the above had still been in contention.
Now my question is this: If all those grand ideals, policies, programmes were instituted by Mr Burnham, who plotted a course to set us on a path of self-sufficiency and to become the breadbasket of the Caribbean, why in the world was this political and economic direction not continued after his demise? Can someone say what went wrong? What of his trusted lieutenants, comrades in arms who stood steadfast by his side in unquestionable support, was it all a sham? Great leaders are known by the perpetuation of their ideals/programmes after they are gone. Wasn’t there a single disciple to step forward after his departure to champion those glorious ideals, which they all applauded so lustily? What became of the promise to “follow in precision steps” those of the founder leader instead of total abandonment? Was there a betrayal?
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
