Arrival day message by Hon. Moses V. Nagamootoo Prime Minister of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

Georgetown, Guyana, Tuesday, May 5, 2020

ALL-ROUND CONTRIBUTIONS

Our ancestry is diverse; our destiny is inextricably and irrevocably intertwined. We are, as our motto instructs, one people, one nation with one destiny.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo wrote in his Sunday Column “My Turn” that over the years, we have pulled together and we have made strides.

True, as Dr. Basdeo Mangru reflected in his text, “The History of East Indian Resistance on the Guyana Sugar Estates”, many of the early Indians had dreamt of returning to India. He noted how they had to “meltdown silver coins to make jewellery with which they bedecked their wives and children”, and had looked towards their repatriation to India with “small fortunes”.

Many Indians chose to remain and to make Guyana their home. Since 1838, Guyana has become the homeland of several generations of Guyanese of Indian heritage, who have made significant all-round contributions to the development and progress of their country.
Our Guyanese people of Indian ancestry have distinguished themselves in business, cricket, cuisine, medicine, law, journalism, literature, music, creative arts, and in politics.

After 182 years we acknowledge these contributions. The West Indian author, George Lamming symbolized them when reflecting on the role of Indian women, he noted: “those Indian hands – whether in British Guiana or Trinidad – have fed all of us.”

• • The freedoms we have attained over these years cannot be surrendered to new conquistadores. We cannot and must not allow those who are forging new geo-political and strategic chains in our Caribbean region to intimidate us, to imprison us. They are around, again, as Martin Carter once wrote, “watching us sleep and aiming at our dreams”.
    Arrival Day is for us to reflect on our triumphs and challenges as we reaffirm the Guyanese spirit of tolerance, inclusivity and brotherhood and a unified vision for a progressive and prosperous Guyana.