HOUSING and Water Minister Irfaan Ali, leading staff of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) in pre-Emancipation Day observances at that ministry’s Brickdam, Georgetown head office, called for all “to forge ahead in a unified way with love, understanding and patience underpinning where we go in the future.”

Ali noted that it is important to reflect on the meaning, sacrifices and conditions that led to final emancipation. He noted also that “Guyana has a very important place in world history when it comes to the final closure of the slave trade and slavery.”
The minister iterated the importance for Guyanese to understand their cultural identity, which has blended together “to give us this one unique Guyanese identity, an identity that has common values and principles that all of us must not only talk about, but practice.”
“Values of equality, patience, and understanding are some of what came out of the struggle for emancipation,” Minister Ali noted.
He noted also that, “the sacrifices were not made for any one individual or culture, but were made for freedom across the world.”
“It is this deeper meaning of emancipation that must be understood, for it is only then that we can grasp the significance of the event,” the minister explained.
Expressing satisfaction that the CHPA staff members were part of the celebration “of educating our staff on the importance of the occasion and identity that comes with it, and be part of the overall ambition of those who came before us,” the minister observed that to forge unity through love, understanding and patience is still a very critical need in Guyana and around the world.
The event saw the CHPA Choir rendering some songs, and members of the National Dance Company performing. There were also drumming sessions by the group known as The Hebrew Family of Guyana.
Emancipation Day, or Freedom Day, is observed on August 1 every year to commemorate the abolition of slavery in 1838, and this is the 175th Anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Guyana.