President David Granger and First Lady Sandra Granger have joined Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and the Coalition Government in extending emancipation greetings to all Guyanese.

The government wished a happy, peaceful and safe celebration of this most significant occasion in the nation’s history and implored all Guyanese to inculcate in their own lives the lessons of perseverance, intolerance for unacceptable conditions and the struggle for a good life for all.

On August 1, 1838, following two hundred years of abhorrent enslavement, the freedom of Africans was restored.

Africans were captured, brought to the Caribbean and the Americas and forced to work on European owned plantations,” the government reflected.

In a statement to mark the occasion, the APNU+AFC administration said the restoration of freedom represents the original independence in Guyana’s history
“On this occasion, 178 years later, we reflect on the struggles of the indomitable, original freedom fighters – Cuffy, Quamina and Damon and their comrades with whom they organized and mobilized to effect redress to the darkest of horrors of Caribbean history,” the statement added.

On August 1st each year, Guyana celebrate freedom, liberation and emancipation from an inhumane and repugnant system of human enslavement and reflect on the pre-1838 conditions and tribulations of the foreparents

The government said while physical enslavement is a distant memory, as a nation, citizens must resolve to continue to emancipate ourselves from whatever vestiges of psychological bondage that may persist.

“We must continue to organize, mobilize and collectively lift our nation to higher heights socially, economically and culturally. We must elevate our mindset, eschew mediocrity and believe in a culture of excellence. This year, 2016, the year of our Golden Jubilee is an ideal opportunity for us to renew our commitment to these noble ideals,” the statement noted.

“There are, as well, powerful lessons following the abolition of slavery from which we must draw equal inspiration. The movement by the freed slaves to purchase land and establish independent coastal villages against challenging odds, remain one of the potent lessons of social upliftment in our history. These villages endure to this day and were the precursors to the modern layout of our coastal plain where the vast majority of our population reside,” the statement added.

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