Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall has refuted claims that the “One Guyana” slogan is political.
Instead, he said it is a government ethos aimed at promoting unity.
He was at the time responding to criticisms from Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Amanza Walton-Desir regarding the inclusion of the slogan on the new 10-year passport.
During his programme “Issues in the News” on Tuesday, the Attorney General pointed out that the concept of “One Guyana” was announced by President Irfaan Ali since his inaugural address to the nation.
“I have never seen this slogan emanate out of Freedom House. I have never seen the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) promote the concept of One Guyana. I know the Government of Guyana has been promoting it but not the PPP/C party and a government is free to formulate any logo, any slogan intended to capture its ethos and this government’s ethos is national unity,” he emphasised.
According to the AG, the “One Guyana” concept intends to fashion a policy for national unity, aimed at bringing various races and cultures together.
“It’s a cohesive force, it’s a rallying slogan, it’s a unifying concept, it’s a principle that denotes our national objective and our national destiny of “One People, One Nation, One Destiny”,” he noted.
Therefore, he said: “we have no apology to make and if we decide to put that fundamental national ethos in a national document, that’s the government’s right.”
Responding directly to Walton-Desir’s comment that the move is an attempt to replace national identity with political allegiance, Nandlall said the MP is not in a position to speak on the topic of political allegiance given the history of her party – the People’s National Congress (PNC).
The AG referred to the Sophia Declaration unveiled by former PNC Leader Forbes Burnham in the 1970s and the move by that party to have its flag flown from the Appeal Court.
“[They] took the PNC flag and the Guyana flag and flew it on top of the court building with the PNC flag on a higher flag pole. Do you understand what that means? Can you imagine passing the Court of Appeal and seeing the PPP flag on top? Can you imagine that? Well that is what the PNC did and at that time, that was our highest court. They were telling the world that when the PNC does anything to you…whether they take your property or freedom or violate the law, in relation to you, where will you go for justice? You cannot go anywhere because we are controlling the justice system too,” he said.
In a letter to the media Walton-Desir contended that the move is part of a broader agenda to blur the lines between party and State.
However, Nandlall said “a person who comes from that party with that kind of history should never ever make party paramountcy an issue and should never speak about a one-party State.”
