On the afternoon of May 25th, in what was a departure from the custom, the Golden Arrowhead was hoisted at D’Urban Park in an event specially scheduled to accommodate hundreds of children. The matinee flag-raising was not the only departure from custom; there was a far more egregious one and one for which an accounting is still to be given by the authorities. Instead of the customary five colours, the extra-large flag boasted a sixth hue, a forest green strip on the side that rides on the wind.
Given the solemnity of the occasion, the re-enactment of the day in 1966 when Guyana gained its independence from the United Kingdom, one would have expected that the flag that ascended the flagpole in the presence of the President, who is also the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, would have been in pristine condition and in compliance with its constitutionally inscribed dimensions. It was not.
The national flag, as one of the pivotal symbols of the state, is referenced in Article 4 of the Guyana Constitution and described in detail in the Second Schedule of that document. The Second Schedule says in part: “The green background symbolizes the agricultural and forested nature of Guyana.