… Presidential Advisor Odinga Lumumba tells gathering at Region 7  flag-raising ceremony

REGION 7 Sunday evening joined with the rest of the country in celebrating 48 years of Independence. Guyana achieved its freedom from Great Britain on May 26, 1966.The celebration was attended by Presidential Advisor on Community Development Odinga Lumumba, who, in his feature address, saluted those persons who have made significant contributions towards Guyana achieving Independence.
He noted that when “we speak about Independence, we must speak about the struggle for Independence, because freedom did not come easily”.
“Freedom does not come on a platter; freedom comes because you worked towards it. You either work through prayers, through protest, through reasoning, or through the gun. That has been the history of the countries obtaining Independence… but we in Guyana didn’t had to pick the gun up, we gained freedom through our intelligence, good leadership, strong protest movements, petitions and our own desire,” he continued.
He informed the gathering that while it’s important that Guyanese must not forget the contributions of LFS Burnham and Dr. Cheddi Jagan, they must remember, as well, the contributions of the slaves who took up the battle for freedom.
He called on the young people to be acquainted with the history of Guyana in order to understand the trials and difficulties faced in the past.
“We are now in a position to make decisions either right or wrong for our country; Independence means that we now have the option to use our creativity …we now have access to our natural resources to determine whether we should have partnership with foreign companies, whether we should have more access for our local businessmen, but the important thing is, those resources are now available to us,” the Presidential Advisor pointed out.
Recalling Guyana’s history, Lumumba emphasised that in the past, certain commodities encountered problems on the international market, but now the industries have turned around and the country is making pathway for international markets in Guyana.
“Gold is up and down, but we have to continue to support the mining industry, but Government must continue to develop the infrastructure so that it becomes easy for miners to produce their commodities,” he noted.
“The PPP/C Government has put the past behind them because we recognise to move this country forward, we cannot continue to dwell on the past, so we have identified projects that we believe will turn this country around, projects that will make this country more economically viable.”
Lumumba identified high electricity cost as one of the harshest problems facing Guyana today, noting that a country can only move forward if the manufacturing industry is involved in its economic development. He said that in order to encourage people to come to Guyana and get involved in manufacturing, there must be access to cheap and reliable energy.
“The Government has initiated a project, Amaila Hydro project, 180 megawatts of power, cheap electric energy that will satisfy foreign manufacturers, that will encourage local manufacturers; but where are we?  Lumumba asked this question because the project has been stymied as a result of the Opposition blocking allocations for this mega project.
Region 7 Chairman, Gordon Bradford, recalled 48 years ago when the Union Jack was lowered and the Golden Arrowhead was raised, which he described as one of the best celebrations he has ever witnessed.
“Independence means that we have to be a nation that is self-reliant, a nation that would determine its own future for generations to come…we have to work together, we have to be able to put aside our petty differences, being political, religious, racial, what have you, and we have to form team Guyana,” Bradford added.
This year’s Independence Anniversary is being celebrated under the theme “Supporting the role of development through 48 years of Independence.”
Cabinet members fanned out to all the administrative regions to join in the celebrations.

(GINA)