Dear Editor,
As Guyanese we have come to another juncture of our history when we celebrate our sovereignty. Forty-nine years ago, Guyana attained nationhood with all the rights and responsibilities to charter its own course and pursue its own destiny.
As we celebrate under the theme Mash 49 with victory in mind. We must not lose sight of the hard work, struggles and sacrifices of our national heroes, who worked tirelessly, to guarantee Guyana the right to advance towards its own destiny with the hope and success.
Today, as we celebrate in fine style with float parades, masquerade bands, dancing in the streets accompanied by accomplished steel pan and other music, we must be cognizant of the deeper meanings and symbolism of these events, so that we can fully appreciate their importance.
Our various symbols of our nationalism – our national Anthem, our Flag, our National Songs will be on display to show the world that we are truly one people, one nation, one destiny. For all of us, we should begin to accept that unless we work together and move forward as one people we would not be able to progress and advance this nation to a higher plateau.
The status of nationhood has rights and responsibilities as I indicated earlier. We could not attempt to divorce the two – rights and responsibilities without the consequential implications to the general pace of progress and development. However, there can be no real development in the absence of unity. The rights and responsibilities are so intricately linked and are indispensable and depend on each other for sustenance.
One such responsibility of nationhood is to secure and maintain the interest and wellbeing of all people of Guyana: this must be facilitated by an environment of peace and harmony. This is particularly necessary in our current circumstances where, though we are different, we must be united, we must find ourselves the strength, the discipline and the wisdom to resist the temptation of being divided. Further, it is important that we be accommodative of each other regardless of race, age, colour, class and creed and learn to appreciate and accept that regardless of our ethnicity we must work together for the common good of our city and nation as a whole.
We have a new Council that is working feverishly to improve conditions that would be beneficial to all citizens. We envision Georgetown to be a clean, green pristine City, that our services would be second to none, our buildings and monuments would be well maintained and restored. This can only be achieved if we unite for this great cause.
Therefore, irrespective of our ethnicity we must advance the cause of unity, for in unity there is strength, we must never concede to the grounds of division in any of its forms and facets. We much do everything to ensure harmony and tranquility for all Guyana.
In my inaugural message as Mayor of this City I said that we need to build bridges and not walls. Fellow citizen bridges are constructed to heal within and across nations and communities. Bridges link cultures; diverse tradition and ethnicities. It provides the framework which allows us to understand the world. This then informs our socio-economic, political, environmental, philosophical perspectives.
Together let us build bridges so we can have a green, cleaner City.
Happy Mashramani
Yours faithfully,
Ubraj Narine
Mayor of Georgetown
