Mackenzie

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ROSE HALL TOWN, CORENTYNE – Residents of Rose Hall Town on the Corentyne ushered in the 43rd anniversary of Guyana as an independent nation, Monday evening, with the traditional flag raising ceremony. The venue was the Rose Hall Town Arch Square.Delivering the feature address was Faizal Jaffarally, Community Relations Officer, Office of the President – Region Six.He took the small gathering back to the days of British Guiana and reminded them of the day Guyana became a free nation. May 26, he said, is the most significant in Guyana’s history.According to him, to fully comprehend the importance of independence, one must remember the struggles of previous generations.Mr. Jaffarally recalled the days of the late President Cheddi Jagan, “He was the father of the nation. Dr. Cheddi Jagan asserted that the reasons for the independence struggle were, ‘because life was hard, and conditions were abominable. Sugar was ‘King’ and British Guyana was call Booker’s Guyana, in reference to an expatriate firm that monopolized the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country…“Material hardships were linked to the denial of civil and political rights…There was apartheid in the sugar estates; the bauxite town, Mackenzie, and on the bauxite river boat RH Carr.“Our Independence struggle was hard and complicated by the cold war. We were clobbered, jailed, detained, and restricted. Some of people were tried on treason charges. Our elected Government was removed from office through force and chicanery on two occasions – 1953 and 1964.”Mr. Jaffarally told the gathering that at the Independence Talks in London in 1960 while the People’s Progressive Party campaigned for immediate self-rule, the opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) back then showed, “little support for severing bonds with Great Britain. In 1962, to further delay independence the PNC conditioned the bestowal of independence with a change in the electoral system. Despite these initial difficulties, Great Britain granted independence to Guyana on May 26th 1966.”He alluded to the many challenges facing citizens today and singled out competitive and uncertain external economic environments characterized by unstable commodity markets. “World price for many of our imports, particularly fuel, have raised astronomically, a situation compounded by less than favourable price for some of our main commodity exports, especially sugar.”He noted that the Government is committed to diversifying the economic base of the country by moving into services and greater value-added production in its bid to develop a balanced economy and areas of new growth.According to him, growth is evident in all sectors, especially education, agriculture and health. “The brand new sugar factory at Corriverton which will see greater production and at the same time a reduction in the cost of the production of sugar, the new Berbice River Bridge which will see an increase in traffic, goods and services in and out of the region…“As we celebrate our 43 rd Independence anniversary lets commit our self to work for national and racial unity and cohesion for national development of our Region and county.”