–President Ali advises

WITH justice, freedom and togetherness at the forefront of President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s agenda, the month of August, which serves as a period to reflect on both the abolition of slavery and the Demerara Revolt, stands as an opportunity for the younger generation to understand the hardships that the African ancestors endured to get Guyana to where it is.
President Ali, who on Friday evening hosted a dinner in honour of the 185th anniversary of Emancipation to reflect on the struggles that African slaves endured, as well as the unity of all Guyanese, said that the younger generation needs to be educated on Guyana’s history because this is essential, given the two major events that occurred in August.

While giving his feature address, he remarked to the large gathering: “My friends, tonight we once again reflect on Emancipation, but for us in Guyana, this month will be a prolonged celebration because in this month too, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Demerara Revolt.”
He added that there will be a vast number of activities aimed at celebrating, educating and remembering the ancestors who fought for freedom and justice.

“Our young population, our young people and our children need to be embedded with this history, so that they will understand the sacrifice through which they came,” President Ali said.
Also, the Head of State said that, as a people, we have a duty to fight injustice and oppression wherever they lie.
“We as a people who are the inheritors of such sacrifice, we have a great responsibility and duty in the world today to ensure that wherever there is injustice, wherever there is oppression of people, wherever the dignity of people is challenged, that we must stand on the right side of history,” the Head of State said.

He added: “If we are to pay homage to the sacrifice our ancestors made, we cannot close our eyes to the inequity and the injustices in the world.”
To address the many issues facing the world, Dr Ali said that a collective approach is needed and Guyanese must be open to sharing their resources with the world.
“We, therefore, have a collective responsibility to build a collective future and we are not only speaking about a collective future for Guyana. The resources that we are blessed with must be utilised to build a collective future that brings prosperity to people in every single region and every corner of the world,” the Head of State said.

He further reminded of the government’s push to establish programmes and lead discussions on climate, energy and food security.
“We have presented the world with one of the largest standing forests in the world, storing 19.5 gigatons of carbon with the lowest deforestation rate in the world of 0.036 per cent…we have wars around the world around energy, people’s freedom taking away in the fight for energy,” Dr Ali said, adding: “In both of these areas, we have been presented a natural gift and a blessing that we must utilise in the interest of humanity and the interest of people.”

The President also reminded that Guyana is currently leading the charge in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Latin American region to address food insecurity.
“This is done in recognition of the sacrifice, in recognition of the freedom our ancestors fought for,” the Head of State said.
Meanwhile, son-in-law of former President Forbes Burnham, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, who also delivered remarks, said that Guyana under the leadership of President Ali is currently on an upward trajectory of building a strong future.

“We have multiple ethnicities, and we have in our motto, One People, One Nation, One Destiny and the president’s programmatic framework of One Guyana. That is important for us because it is building a nation,” Dr. Charles said.