PRESIDENT Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has paid tribute to the resistance, resolve, and resilience of Guyana’s African ancestors in a message marking Emancipation Day 2026, declaring that their contributions “are the very pillars upon which modern Guyana stands.”
In his address to Guyanese at home and across the diaspora, on Saturday, the President reflected on the horrors of the Transatlantic trade in captive Africans and the brutal system of slavery, describing it as “the most abominable system ever known to mankind.” Yet, he said, enslaved Africans never surrendered their dignity, humanity, or pursuit of freedom.
President Ali noted that when emancipation finally came, the formerly enslaved did not meet their freedom with bitterness. Instead, they looked forward, determined to build a better future for generations to come.
The President traced the extraordinary rise of African-Guyanese in the decades following emancipation, highlighting the Village Movement as a defining chapter — a collective effort in which freed men and women pooled resources to purchase land and establish villages that became, in his words, “the bedrock of resilience, the crucibles of culture, the seedbeds of nationhood.”
He pointed to their achievements across multiple spheres: education that sharpened minds, entrepreneurship that built enterprises, agriculture that fed the nation, and mining that unearthed gold, bauxite and diamonds to fuel national progress. Their influence, he added, extended into sport, the arts, politics and the professions — enriching every facet of Guyanese life.
Reflecting on how the ancestors responded to adversity, President Ali urged Guyanese to follow their example rather than allow tragedy to breed hatred. “They transformed their sorrow into solidarity and their pain into purpose,” he said. “They wept together, prayed together, and rebuilt together.”
The President called on citizens to reject “the seduction of suspicion and the poison of enmity,” and instead to honour their ancestors’ legacy by building a society grounded in mutual respect, equality, and shared prosperity.
He closed his message with a call for national unity: “Let us continue to build a Guyana that is truly free, truly prosperous, and just — for every man, woman, and child who calls this land home.”
President Ali extended his best wishes to all Guyanese on the occasion of Emancipation Day 2026, expressing hope that “the spirit of our African ancestors” would continue to guide and inspire the nation “today, and always.”