At exhibition opening…
PAST, present and future melded as Guyanese from all walks of life attended the opening of an annual exhibition to mark Guyana’s Independence Anniversary. Hosted in the National Museum, on Company Path, Georgetown on Monday, the theme was ‘Our Struggle, our Identity’, the fruit of a collaborative effort involving the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Archives.
Director of Culture, Dr. James Rose, who declared the show open, took the audience on a journey dating back from the 1940s, with an enlightening lecture on pre-independence  to present day activities in this country, 44 years after it won freedom from colonialism.
On what he called the “tricky journey” to political independence, he said: “Development in any country isn’t handed on a platter. You have to make sacrifices. You have to be committed to the process.”
Then Rose asked: “Are we, as Guyanese, committed?”
He cautioned against the dangers of not being committed to the cause of independence and advised that “unless we are serious, we can incur debts and hamper development.”
Rose urged those present to try to understand events that have taken place from 1966 to now.
Going back to the days before independence, he said: “As a nation, we were fortunate to have, in the 1940s, a small political grouping committed to independence, a grouping which would later metamorphose into a political party in 1950 and lead to Universal Adult Suffrage in 1953.”
Rose informed that, prior to Universal Adult Suffrage, there were a lot of conditions for voting, which required persons to own land, have a specified income and be literate in English Language.
“However, that baggage became history when everyone reached the age requirement and became eligible to vote,” he remarked.
In the audience, too, were Acting Archivist at the National Archives, Ms. Nadia Gamel-Carter, who welcomed guests; members of the National Trust, the Diplomatic Corps and other distinguished guests.
Among the artifacts that were on display were rare stamps, national awards, biographies and photographs of national leaders, pictures of past occurrences, colonial legacies and writings of interest, all of which will continue to be available for viewing through  June 7.