Dear Editor,
The letter captioned ‘Cheddi Jagan was not present at the UG’s inauguration in 1963’ written by Harry Hergash and published in the Stabroek News on October 4 is incorrect.
The Minister of Education, Ms Priya Manickchand did not state in her remarks at the University of Guyana’s 50th Anniversary ‘Genesis’ on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 that the late president Dr Cheddi Jagan was present at the University of Guyana’s inauguration ceremony in 1963.
In fact, this is what she actually said: “on the 1st of October 1963 Dr Cheddi Jagan wrote a speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the University of Guyana—it was delivered by Mr B Benn and it is that speech I would like to read to you today.”
Yours faithfully,
Suelle Findlay-Williams
Editor’s note
Mr Hergash’s letter was based on the report of the ‘Genesis’ commemoration in this newspaper which did not make clear Dr Jagan was not present at the inauguration 50 years ago.