Dear Editor,
Two daily newspapers recently carried front page articles on the proposed bridge across the Corentyne River. The headlines read, `Guyana, Suriname teams visit landing site for Corentyne bridge -agreement expected to be signed next month’ and `Guyana, Suriname mark site for Corentyne River Bridge.’ According to the reports, Suriname’s Public Works Minister Dr. Riad Nurmohamed, Guyana’s Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and other officials from both countries visited the site for the proposed Guyana-Suriname River Bridge.
The missive carried photographs of the flags of Guyana and Suriname being displayed and planted at Moleson Creek, the site for the bridge. I discovered to my chagrin the flags were placed in the wrong positions. During my school days it was embedded in me that in Guyana whenever the flag of Guyana is displayed alongside another flag it must be on the right of that flag and when it is among other flags its rightful position is the centre and a little above the other flags. What I saw in the photographs was the flag of Suriname on the right of the flag of Guyana when it should have been the other way around. Also, Suriname’s flag pole appears to be more sturdy than Guyana’s.
I will not flag the issue much longer but hasten to posit that we must at all times respect our Symbols of Nationhood. They are the National Anthem, the Coat of Arms, the Golden Arrowhead – the National Flag and the National Pledge. Hope that in future we will observe the protocol as it relates to our flag. Let our flag fly proudly but in its rightful position.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired)
