It was the second year in a row that the town planned its own local festivities to cater for persons who could not have found it possible to travel to the capital city for the main float parade celebrations.
Leading the float parade was the ‘Body of Christ’ contingent, with revelers from a section of the Christian Community. The Ark of the Covenant was also beautifully displayed and was being fetched by a few persons in the float. Then the ‘Guyana for Jesus’ float was not far behind. ‘GuyGas’ was the next float that made its way along Main Street, with a group of revelers as part of its contingent.
Then there was the La Chateau Van Paige’ float which informed persons that a massive hotel is coming soon in the Stanleytown area.
Carol Fraser, who is also the Chairperson of the New Amsterdam Mash Committee, had her float out; its aim was to sensitize the citizens of New Amsterdam to dispose of their litter and garbage sensibly. She noted that there is a garbage problem in the town of New Amsterdam and persons living in the town should take more interest in disposing their waste in a more environmental- friendly manner.
Eureka Medical Laboratory, headed by Kirt Alphonso, was the penultimate float along the Mash route. That float displayed the services of the lab company in New Amsterdam. Finally, there was the Caribbean International Distributors, with their ‘Thrill’ Beverage float, and a strong contingent.
The float parade was preceded on Friday evening by the Annual Flag- raising ceremony, one of three that were held across Berbice. Others were similarly held in Fort Wellington, Region 5 and Corriverton.
Dozens of persons gathered at State House in New Amsterdam for the region’s main flag- raising ceremony which got underway shortly after 20:00 hrs with the parade and arrival of the joint services, accompanied by steel band as they made their way into the compound. The cultural programme was packed with songs, dances, poems, skits, as well as tassa and other forms of drumming. Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran represented His Excellency, President Donald Ramotar.
Region 6 Chairman, Mr. David Armogan noted that one of the fundamental achievements of Guyana since gaining Republican status is the freedom of expression that abounds across the land, “and low interest rates, low unemployment [rates]—important determinants of where a country is going”.
He also alluded to the number of schools, bridges, and health services that have been introduced…”new health centres, new hospitals and in many facets of life, many things have changed”.
“While we, as a government take responsibility, the citizens of Guyana also got responsibility…but today, if you look closely, how many of us has taken on that responsibility to our country and to ourselves”, he stated. “How many of you are cleaning your surroundings…when I look around today in our region, in front of our homes, the drains are so clogged up—we are not even doing what we are supposed to do and everything that happens, we blame the government”.
“I am not saying that we haven’t made mistakes…or that everything is bright and beautiful…or that things cannot improve….”, he mentioned. He appealed to the citizens to take their responsibilities to the country seriously. “I agree with you that we must criticize government, because if we are doing bad things, we deserve to be criticized and if you see things going wrong, you have the freedom of speech to speak out, but we must do so responsibly. When good things are happening, we must stand up and say that good things are happening”, he posited.
Armogan stated that Guyanese were handed a syndrome of dependency from the British. “We always believe that somebody else is going to do the things for us…but comrades, nobody is going to do anything for us; we have to begin to do things for ourselves”.
Minister of Health, Dr. Ramsaran also stated that this is a time for Guyanese to evaluate and reflect how “our Guyana, my Guyana, your Guyana, has progressed”. He stated that over 300 new doctors will be returning from Cuba this year. “This never happened in the history of a country this size, more so in the history of Guyana, have we ever been able to enjoy the quality, quantum leap….”
He also called upon the New Amsterdam Mayor & Town Council (M&TC), in particularly Deputy Mayor of New Amsterdam, Mr. Harold Dabydeen, who was in attendance, to get its act together and improve the state of affairs in the town.
The Golden Arrowhead was then hoisted shortly before midnight, during which the National Anthem was sung by Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Mr. Imran Ally.
By Leon Suseran | KAIETEUR NEWS