First Minister to lead “One Guyana Commission”
First Minister, Mark Phillips
Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali revealed during his inaugural address to the National Assembly yesterday that the nation can look forward to launching the “One Guyana Commission,” an organization aimed at building citizen unity.
The Head of State announced that the Assembly’s Government Business Leader, First Minister, retired Brigadier Mark Phillips will shortly bring forward an Act in Parliament to establish the Commission. The First Minister will also lead the Commission.
President Ali explained that the Commission’s intention is to develop practical steps to be taken to consolidate Guyana’s “one society”, encompassing and respecting the diversity that “our isolation” derives from.
“As the great West Indian philosopher CLR James says: ‘A nation is built not on abstraction, but on tackling and resolving the problems that occupy its people’,” stated President Ali.
Issues to be addressed by the Commission include, education related to Guyana history; religions; how agencies would seek to ensure equality of opportunity for education, employment and entrepreneurship as well as strengthen the institutional relations of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to make it more effective.
He said the Commission’s work across the country, noting that it would listen to the free expression of all voices, was about ways in which all Guyanese can honor their ancestors’ heritage.
In all of this, says the President, Guyana must be guided by the wisdom of Nelson Mandela: “No one is born hating another person because of his skin color, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, because love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. ”
“We must move nation-building from abstraction to action,” he continued “And lose, not one more moment in doing it. Let us stand for our one nation, our one Guyana. Let us stand for what we know in our hearts and minds to be right. Let us stand for our identity – Guyanese identity. ”