Laying Burnham to rest

SCRIPTURAL read­ings, the singing of hymns and an anthem as well as a sermon by a Methodist priest will form part of the, programme for the re­committal of the re­mains of the late Pre­sident Forbes Burnham on Sunday in the Bo­tanic Gardens.

The remains which were expected home from the Soviet Union in a glass capsule is now at the Seven Ponds Place of Heroes in the Botanic Gardens where it has already been viewed by the late Pre­sident’s family, mem­bers of the Cabinet and other Government members, senior offi­cials of the ruling Peo­ple’s National Congress, special invitees and the diplomatic corps.

Today, members of the Disciplined Serv­ices, school children and teachers will be given the opportunity to view the remains.

Tomorrow, members of the public will be allowed at the commit­tal site throughout the day from early morn­ing.

The committal takes place on Sunday which also marks the 22nd anniversary of the Peo­ple’s National Con­gresses’s accession to office in Guyana.

The ceremony will be­gin at 16:3 0 hrs. with the singing of the Song of the Republic.

Before President Des­mond Hoyte makes a statement, leaders of the Hindu and Mus­lim religions will also read from the Bhagwat Gita and the Holy Quran respectively. After the President’s statement the last post will be sounded.

Prime Minister Hamil­ton Green in a brief­ing for newsmen this week on preparations for the committal cere­mony said it was an occasion for solemn thanksgiving and ap­pealed to the journal­ists to do their report­ing in a spirit of rev­erence and avoid petty differences.

In reply to a question, at the briefing on the cost of the entire exer­cise, the Prime Minister replied that $3 1/2M has been budgeted but could not give a final figure.

 

A valuable contribution to national life

THE ‘Stabroek News’ was officially launched last Saturday with assurances from the Guyana Government that the State was committed to developing a climate conducive to the sharing of ideas.

Senior Minister of Information and the Public Service, Yvonne Harewood-Benn, who represented President Desmond Hoyte at the launching ceremony, said, “we expect criticism, but we think that it should be pointed, persistent but principled.” The newspaper, she said, was ‘a very valuable addition – to our national life” and added, “I believe this is a sincere attempt to contribute to our national development.” This view, she said, was also shared by President Hoyte.

INITIATIVE

The Guyana Govern-ment welcomed the initiative by Guyana Publications Limited, publishers of the ‘Stabroek News, in launching the newspaper, Mrs. Hare-wood-Benn said. She recalled Hoyte’s declaration at last July’s annual conference of Guyana’s Heads of Overseas Missions that economic development had to be accompanied by a “certain intellectual climate” and said “we cannot develop if thoughts are inhibited and ideas snuffed out.”

‘Stabroek News’ is the first privately-owned non-party newspaper to emerge here since 1974 when the ‘Guyana Gra­phic,’ owned by the Thompson Group, was sold to the Government.

Present for the launch­ing ceremony were Managing Editor, of the ‘Barbados Advo­cate, Neville Grosvenor, Managing-Director of the ‘Trinidad Guard­ian, ’ Mark Conyers, Managing Director of the ‘Trinidad Express’ Ken Gordon, Harold Hoyte, head of the ‘Barbados Nation,’ General Manager of the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) Harry Mayers and Ainsley Sahai, Executive Officer of the Caribbean Pub­lishing and Broadcast­ing Association (CPBA). Miss Barbara Haig, of the Washing­ton-based National En­dowment for Demo­cracy, which has pro­vided a grant to pay the printing costs in Trinidad because of for­eign exchange difficul­ties, was also here. Miss Haig is the daughter of former United States Secretary of State, General Alexander Haig.

CEREMONY

Members of the diplo­matic corps, media per­sonalities, businessmen and opposition parties’ representatives were also at the ceremony.

Mr. David de Caires, Managing Director of Guyana Publications Limited, said the pre­sence of the pressmen from the Caribbean in­dicated that they saw the emergence of the ‘Stabroek News’ as the return by Guyana to “the fold of the free press in the Carib­bean.” He added, “the private press is being born again in Guyana.” The owners, he said, started the newspaper because they believed a vibrant, independent press was “absolutely necessary” in a mod­ern civilisation.

“We intend to main­tain a delicate balance in a highly polarised so­ciety,” de Caires, said, but emphasised, “we feel free to tell the truth as we see it.” There is a tendency on both sides of the political divide to push us off our balance,” he said, “but we will resist this.”

He indicated that in the final analysis the paper’s usefulness would depend on its objectivity and profes­sionalism and their ulti­mate guide would be the national interest as they conceived it.

Mrs. Harewood-Benn, responding to Mr. de Caires who disclosed that ‘Stabroek News’ had encountered diffi­culties in getting in­terviews with people on “even the most inno­cuous issues” as they had lost the habit of being interviewed and speaking out freely, said “when people are convinced that you are just and fair, I do not think you would have a problem with in­terviews.”

“We expect you would be lively but just,” she said. ‘Stab­roek News’ had Presi­dent Hoyte’s “very best wishes,” Harewood- Benn said and added that Government wel­comed the initiative by Guyana Publications Limited in opening the newspaper.

‘Trinidad Express’ Managing Director Ken Gordon described the launching of ‘Stabroek News’ as a “catalyst that can take Guyana forward” but he warn­ed “a free and inde­pendent press has seri­ous responsibilities, par­ticularly in the develop­ing world.”

INTEREST

The event, he said, “goes well beyond the launching of a new newspaper – the audi­ence here is a small part of the people who are watching you…the rest of the free world as following this launch­ing with interest.”

The ‘Trinidad Ex­press,’ which currently prints the ‘Stabroek News,’ and other sec­tions of the Caribbean media were partners

rather than supporters of the new Guyana newspaper, Gordon said.

“We are ready and willing to support you as long as you need us,” he added but said he was impressed with the attitude of self- sufficiency the news­paper and Guyanese had adopted.

Gordon said the ‘Stab­roek News,’ had com­mitted and hard-work­ing people behind it who were prepared to make sacrifices neces­sary but he advised that the “performance over the long haul is what really matters.”

The entire print of the ‘Stabroek News’ first commercial edition of December 5 was sold out within two hours after the news­paper went on sale and the company was un­able to meet the de­mand for issues of its November 21 compli­mentary run.