BACKGROUND

President Burnham was born on February 20, 1923, in the village of Kitty, a suburb of
Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana. Like some 31 per cent of Guyana’s population, he
was a descendant of African slaves brought by the Dutch and British to work the sugar
plantations of the South American colony.

He was the second son of a family of five children. His father, who greatly influenced
his early life, was headmaster of the Methodist Primary School.

Burnham received all his earlier education from his father and at the age of eleven
attended for a short time Central High School, and then Queen’s College, the leading
secondary school in the colony. In 1942, he won the Guiana Scholarship, awarded to the
top student in the country, providing him with a university education in Britain.

Upon his arrival in England, he soon made a name for himself by winning the Best
Speaker’s Cup of the Laws Faculty. By 1947 he had received his LL.B. (Hons.) and the
following year was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn. His skills as an orator and his
dedication to the struggle for independence of all colonial peoples led him to the
Presidency of the West Indies Students’ Union in 1947.

In 1949, Burnham returned home and set up private practice in law. However, he soon
joined forces with Dr. Cheddi Jagan, a young Indian dentist and transformed the
quasi-political organization-The Political Affairs Committee. By 1953, the People’s
Progressive Party led by Dr. Jagan had been forged into a strong political entity, which
was ready to contest the general election under a constitution that allowed, for the
first time, adult suffrage at the age of 21.

The two political stalwarts drifted apart following an internal party election. Burnham
won the contest for party’s leader and the then British Guiana witnessed a fractured PPP-
one led by Dr. Jagan and the other by Burnham.

When general elections were held in August 1957, votes were cast strictly along racial
lines and that pattern has persisted to the present time.

Following the election that was held on December 7, 1964, the People’s National Congress
led by Forbes Burnham managed to secure 40.8 per cent of the vote, about 5 percent more
than the total African votes registered. The People’s Progressive Party that was headed
by Dr. Cheddi Jagan garnered 45 per cent of the vote, an amount similar to the Indians
that were registered. Meanwhile, the United Force, led by Mr. Peter D’Aguiar obtained
12.5 per cent, about 4 per cent less than the votes registered amongst the Amerindians,
Chinese, Portuguese and English (Caucasian).

The Governor, Sir Richard Luyt, promptly asked Burnham to form a coalition government
after he and Peter D’Aguiar decided to coalesce. On May 26, 1966, Guyana attained
political independence from Great Britain under the bold leadership of Forbes Burnham.
Four years later with imagination and inventiveness L.F.S. Burnham took a gigantic step
forward in declaring the world’s first -Cooperative Republic.