Forty years after Forbes Burnham radically reformed the independence constitution and twenty years after that, the ‘Burnham’ constitution was reformed by the PPP/C government, why is the present constitution still being disparagingly referred to as the ‘Burnham’ constitution that needs to be scrapped? Much of the anger directed at the constitutions has to do with perceptions that the current presidential immunities are unacceptable and contribute significantly to presidents behaving highhandedly and appearing unchallengeable. Last week I attempted to show that the immunities that the president of Guyana enjoys are not particularly unusual, and here I posit that even if they are totally eliminated, the incumbent could still appear all powerful and inviolable because the elements in the 1980 constitution that are responsible for this behaviour were hardly touched by the 2000 reform process.
