THE Ministry of Public Service, on Friday, held a celebration in the compound of its Waterloo Street, Georgetown, branch, to commemorate the 183rd anniversary of the official end to slavery in Guyana. While the Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent in August, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834, the Africans who were brought to work as slaves in British Guiana and other parts of the Caribbean, with the exception of Antigua and Barbuda, were not freed until 1838, after a four-year period of forced apprenticeship, which required former slaves to work for their masters with minimal compensation. Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, took to the forefront of the activities on Friday to share a few words on the significance of Emancipation Day.
“Emancipation, for me, was learning about it in History, in primary school. Today, as an adult, we know so much more about emancipation. It represents the second ethnic group that came to Guyana, but they came to Guyana in a very different way, and left a very different message for us,” she explained.

She touched on the Slavery Abolition Act, and acknowledged the unfair and selfish treatment plantation owners dished out to the then-slaves, but noted that while the abolition of slavery was important when the slaves were first freed, it was much more significant now, in the modern society we live in.
“Back then, emancipation represented the freedom, or the physical act of freeing slaves. Today, in a more contemporary society,

emancipation means so much more. It means your freedom of thought; it means your freedom of expression. It means you are free to formulate ideas; it means you are free to be an individual; and we are moving slowly towards that,” Parag effused.
She further noted that the contribution of the Africans who were brought to British Guiana plays a significant role in the cultures that we have today.
“…the West Indies, as opposed to so many other places, is blessed, because of the rich culture that we have, and the African community is no exception. Because when the Africans came from Africa, they brought with them the real culture, and it has been blended in, and remains so today.

“So we are rich, not just because we have your presence, but because of so much that they would have brought here in terms of culture, in terms of imparting, and in terms of building a country and an economy from their hard work,” the Minister expressed. She later extended her sincere gratitude to the African community for its contributions to Guyana.
President of the Ghana Day Organisation and representative of the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), Penda Guyan, thanked the Minister for her words, and touched on a few more points in African history. The programme continued with miniature performances enacted by the Ministry’s staff, including a cheerful rendition of “Small Days” by the personnel department, poem recitals, including one by the reigning Ms Emancipation Queen 2019, Melynda Smith, titled “The Average Black Girl”, and a colourful cultural display by the scholarship department and Minister’s Secretariat of the Public Service Ministry.