The Parliament office on Wednesday unveiled a gallery of portraits honouring the present and past presidents of Guyana. The event was hosted in observance of Guyana’s 53rd Independence Anniversary celebration.
Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Barton Scotland during his remarks at the unveiling ceremony said the creation of the gallery of presidents is a presentation of the people of Guyana in deep appreciation for the presidents’ dedicated and exceptional service to Guyana.
According to Scotland, the idea of the gallery of presidents was birthed after discussions with himself and the other staff of the National Assembly. “Beyond the observance of our independence, our fellow Guyanese and those who visit would have much to contemplate through the reality of this gallery of presidents. It would add adornment and luster to the national assembly,” he said.
The portraits unveiled were those of President David Granger and former Presidents Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, Donald Ramotar, Samuel Hinds, Dr Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Hugh Desmond Hoyte, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham and Arthur Chung.
Giving brief remarks at the unveiling ceremony, former President Samuel Hinds said that Guyana since its independence has not done too poorly given the challenges it faced as nation. He believes that one of these challenges was the challenges of our six peoples who all were from different backgrounds but had to come together. He added that Guyana should be proud that it did not falter even when it was called to partition from two different directions.
Further, Hinds explained that Guyana has been underestimating two major challenges that it faces namely the challenges of coming together as one people and the other of developing the country materially. He expressed hope that Guyana joins the group of countries that managed to do well with fortunes that come its way. “My hope is that we would find ourselves in the better half of those countries that have had the fortune of finding oil,” he said.
Also president at Wednesday’s unveiling ceremony were President Granger and former Presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Ramotar along members of the diplomatic corps and staff of the National Assembly.
