Although it was announced by the Ministry of Education’s Department of Culture that the upcoming 51st Independence Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony would be held at the Stabroek Market Square, a source from the ministry says that the decision is not “set in stone” and could be changed but D’Urban Park is not being considered.
Despite developing D’Urban Park at a cost of approximately $1.3B last year to host the Golden Jubilee 50th independence anniversary celebrations, the government last week announced that this year’s flag raising would be held at the Stabroek Square.
Town Clerk Royston King told Stabroek News last week that he was elated that the government had made such a decision and that some $100M would be spent to prepare the area. “As a result, the council is in the process of putting in place arrangements to sanitize that entire area. This includes washing and remedial works to certain sections of the Stabroek Market front, washing and cleaning Stabroek Market, particularly under the canopy and its immediate periphery including the drains around that facility, the removal of garbage and other rubbish from the square, resurfacing of the tarmac and washing and cleaning the entire area,” King said.
During the preparation, the vendors and operators of minibuses and hire cars around the area would be temporarily relocated, he also noted.
However, while the decision attracted public scrutiny, a source from the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport explained to Stabroek News yesterday that the decision is “not set in stone and is tentative.”
The source, who did not want to be named, explained that the team, which is made up of National Events Director, Lt. Colonel Godfrey Bess, Director of Culture Tamika Boatswain, Youth Director Melissa Carmichael and Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry, along with others, is set to have a meeting sometime during the week where there will be a discussion and a final decision on the location of the 51st independence anniversary celebrations.
The source explained that factors such as the inclement and unpredictable weather and the public dissatisfaction with the decision are two guiding factors. It was also related to this newspaper that one of the other sites being discussed for the celebrations is Parade Ground.
The source also explained that the D’Urban Park facilities are not being considered since unlike the 50th anniversary, which was an important milestone and was expected to gather a large crowd from both resident and non-resident Guyanese, the 51st anniversary is not expected to have such a large attendance. It was also related to Stabroek News that when the decision is “written in stone,” a press conference will be held with the media.
While the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was slated to have been one of the services working together with the other stakeholders to pull off the event, Head of Operations of the GFS Compton Sparman explained to Stabroek News yesterday that no formal contact or meeting has been held with the fire service and therefore he could not make any pronouncements.
Questions have also raised about whether it would be a sound decision to have fireworks going off in the vicinity of the Stabroek Market, which a source from the fire service said would not be a wise since the market itself could be at risk.