The Department of Culture Youth and Sport, has announced details of its Mashramani activities and events planned for the 49th annual celebration, which it says will be taken to regions across Guyana.
In its bid to rebrand the Mashramani activities, these national events will be held in all ten administrative regions in the country.
This year, 39 activities have been scheduled over the next 6 weeks to observe the celebrations. Coordinator of this year’s event, Andrew Tyndall said: “We have a total of 39 activities on the Mashramani Calendar of Events, which would cover six weeks, from the 12th January to the 9th March and that will include activities such as the song competitions, which will be the Calypso Monarch, the Chutney Monarch and the Soca Monarch. We have the steel band competition, the masquerade jamboree, we have all-star concerts being held in the regions so that persons in the regions could have a summary of the mash events”, Mr. Tyndall said.
He noted that some $70M will be expended this year and is somewhat the same figure when compared to last year.
Meanwhile, Social Cohesion Minister, Dr George Norton said: “Mash is on and there will be Mashramani”. He said that the Government will be giving its full support to ensure that the activities planned are successful.
With regards to security, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been engaged and will increase its safety precautions.
For persons who might be interested in participating in the events, application forms are available online on the Guyana Mashramani Facebook page.
Following the passage of the no-confidence motion which resulted in the toppling of the APNU/AFC Government, elections are expected to be held within 90 days (from the passage of the motion), bringing the date for the polls just after Mashramani celebrations.
