This weekend Guyana celebrates the 51st Independence Anniversary, offers national awards to worthy citizens on their contributions to Guyana and welcomes the uplifting message of Ramadan. The most inspiring message at this time, however, are those of the two major political parties, combined in the headline of this article. The common theme is reflected in the use of the words “unity” in one message and “cohesive” in the other.
Guyana is still referred to as a land of six peoples even though most of the Portuguese, Chinese and Europeans left in the 1960s and 1970s. Prominent groups which now exercise political influence are Amerindians, generally supportive of the PPP, and the Mixed Group, a large section of which is supportive of APNU. But the largest groups, comprising almost seventy per cent of the population, with the most decisive influence on the political direction of Guyana, consist of African and Indians.
Africans and Indians, and Amerindians for that matter, are peoples of differing
