The alleged fraying (unraveling of the ends) of the National Flag of Guyana which led to an additional colour – coincidentally that of the People’s National Congress (PNC) party- being added to the end of it, represents the total decay that’s taking place locally at the hands of the APNU-AFC Administration.
These were the words of Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday, as he responded to the justification made by State Minister, Joseph Harmon, as to why there was a darker green colour attached to the end of the Golden Arrow Head when it was raised in observance of Independence Day, last Friday.
“Harmon said ‘Oh the flag was frayed. We couldn’t hoist a frayed flag.’… If the flag was frayed, it is representing the total decay that’s taking place,” he told media operatives.
It is Jagdeo’s belief that had this justification been true, the matter should have been looked at long before the Flag raising ceremony.
“Well didn’t they know that before? You know when we said that they altered the colour of the flag to put the PNC’s colour, because this is a pattern. Suddenly, they discovered that the flag was frayed. Like, at 2:45 in the afternoon, they discovered that and they had to stitch it up quickly, you know, [because] the flag was frayed…You should have at the flag looked at a month before, two months before, fix it if you know you have a flag raising ceremony…But I suspect that’s another lame excuse from Harmon,” he maintained.
In his explanation after members of the Opposition and other citizens questioned the addition of a sixth colour to the National Flag, Harmon said that the ends of the material were unraveling and as such, another piece of fabric of the same shade green was added at the ends of the flag but the two same shades of green on each other darkened the colour.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in a prior statement on the issue had said that “the unauthorized alteration of the national flag connects one of Guyana’s most significant national symbols to the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), via the inclusion of the PNCR’s party colour along the end of the Golden Arrowhead, is reminiscent of the repressive regime of the PNC pre-1992. The practice of the PNCR flag being flown above Guyana’s courts has not been forgotten by the Guyanese people.”
Moreover, the PPP dubbed the addition of a sixth colour at the end unconstitutional, while making it clear that “ with regard to alteration of the national flag, the Second Schedule included in Guyana’s Constitution devotes two pages (pages 260 and 261) to the heraldic description of Guyana’s national flag. The description makes it clear that there are five distinct colours – not six – and defines their proportions.”
