…Prime Minister calls for patriotism

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has urged youths here to fully embrace their Guyanese nationality, saying in local parlance, that “we navel-string buried hey”.
The prime minister made this call to patriotism in his weekly column “My Turn”, under the title “MOTHERLAND”, as Guyana observes the 53rd anniversary of Independence from Great Britain.

At this time, he wrote, for “those of us who were born in Guyana, we celebrate Guyana as our Motherland.”

He noted that the patriotic affinity with the land of our birth is captured in the national song “Oh Beautiful Guyana”, put to music by Valerie Rodway, “the centenary of whose birth we have observed a few days ago with the release of a commemorative stamp.”
This land is “more dear” to the descendants of several ethnic groupings – Europeans, Africans, Portuguese, East Indians and Chinese – who joined the Amerindians, our Indigenous Peoples, who were already here. “That was how we became the Land of Six Races, as we have come to know Guyana,” he reminded.

In addition to National Arrival Day, Guyana celebrates Emancipation Day on August 1; Chinese Arrival Day on January 13; Portuguese Arrival Day on May 3; Indian Arrival Day on May 5, which coincides with National Arrival Day; and September as Indigenous Heritage Month.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo, a former youth leader and a fighter for Guyana’s independence, dedicated his column to Guyana’s young people who will lead this year’s independence observances. Young people will raise the National Flag at Sunday’s solemn ceremony at the D’urban Park.

He explained: “The main reason for this is that our young people must be given every opportunity to show-case their nationalism, their love of country, as Guyanese.
“Our young Guyanese citizens will demonstrate their loyalty to country and their love our fellow citizens, which our National Pledge commands us to do. They must become the exemplars of patriotism that is contemplated in Article 7 of our Constitution, which states:
“It is the duty of every citizen of Guyana wherever he or she may be and of every person in Guyana to respect the National Flag, the Coat of Arms, the National Anthem, the National Pledge and the Constitution of Guyana”.

“It is time that our young people who are the benefactors of the great promise that Guyana holds for them, mirror the meaning in our National Anthem about Guyana being our dear, green and great land.

“Our anthem reminds our young people about our ancestors, of the heroes of yesteryear, of their pains and sacrifices. As inheritors of their legacy, they must not let those sacrifices go in vain,” he said.

Mr. Nagamootoo stated that after 53 years of independent, sovereign, free nationhood, Guyanese have to take their citizenship status seriously. “Unless our law changes, our young people have to be vigilant and not allow, now or in the future, an under-cover foreign agent to unseat the country’s lawfully-elected government; or derail our glorious system of multi-party, plural and open democracy, which the Coalition Government has restored over these past years.

“There can be no compromise on our love for Guyana, and our commitment to her ideals of a good life for all.”