Today, 26th of May, 2022, Guyana celebrates its 56th year as an independent nation. Guyana was granted independence from Great Britain in 1966. However, the exact date, May 26th, was appointed by then President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham as the date to remember Guyana’s status as an independent nation.
Independence Day was celebrated this year by various military parades, a paratrooping exercise, Presidential speeches, and the symbolic hoisting of the Guyana Flag: The Golden Arrow Head at different locations across the country.
President Ali, in one of his speeches last evening, promised the people of Guyana improved transport system, modern hospitals, and cheaper energy “to propel Guyana’s future.”
We are embarking on infrastructure that is transformative, infrastructure that will bring real benefits and real opportunities in building new connections, and creating new economic activities, and expanding our markets.
President Ali
Since Independence from Great Britain in 1966, the country of Guyana has generally not fared well. There has been rapid economic decline, mass migration, ethnic conflicts, disastrous mismanagement of the country’s resources, and profound corruption within successive governments. Crime rate and employment has also spiraled through the roof. On the other hand, there were huge financial gains for only a handful of people post independence.
Nevertheless, with the discovery of over 11 billion barrels and counting of sweet light crude, some citizens are optimistic that the country’s trajectory will take a turn for the better. President Ali has touted a “one Guyana plan” which he says will see all Guyanese, regardless of race, class, religion, or political affiliation given equal opportunities and benefitting equally from the country’s resources.
