The early afternoon of Monday January 14, 1991 started like any routine assignment for us covering Parliament but by the end of the dramatic day, we would witness historic scenes of acerbic anger, unprecedented disorder and ugly uproar. At every sitting of the House, the Speaker is preceded by the smartly-dressed Sergeant-at-Arms solemnly bearing the golden shining Mace of authority on his right shoulder.
In the British tradition we inherited, it is no longer a feared ancient weapon but a respected civic symbol to be reverently installed on the table of the Clerk of the National Assembly, who reads opening prayers before any business is entered upon in the graceful mahogany-walled hall.
A silver gilt Mace would be used for the first time in British Guiana in September, 1957. When we became a Republic in February 1970, our Coat of Arms would replace the British Royal equivalent at the helm. The original stem features fancy stylised motifs of our key crops rice and sugar cane, and it depicts the largest water lily, the Victoria Regia introduced to the admiring world during the long reign of that Queen.