MASHRAMANI

The true test of healthcare is what happens when no one knows you are coming.

Recently, I made an unannounced visit to Bath Regional Hospital to see firsthand how patients are being served.

I spoke with patients and staff, reviewed services, and identified areas that need improvement.

We are investing in better facilities, equipment, medicines and training—but these investments must translate into better care for every patient, every day.

Unannounced visits will continue.

Our standard is simple: wherever you live in Guyana, when you enter a public health facility, you must receive timely, respectful and high-quality care. ,

Freedom was never given. It was won by courage.

Today, we honour those who refused to accept that any human being was born to live in chains. We remember Cuffy, whose leadership in the 1763 Berbice Revolution ignited the flame of freedom. We remember Quamina and Jack Gladstone, whose sacrifice in 1823 helped shake the conscience of an empire. We remember Damon of Essequibo, who stood for true freedom and paid the ultimate price because he believed that liberty delayed was liberty denied.

And we honour the countless unnamed men and women whose labour built our sea defences, canals, villages and ultimately the foundations of modern Guyana. They were denied freedom, but they never surrendered their dignity. Their legacy is not confined to history; it lives in our resilience, our culture and our nation.

As we celebrate Emancipation Day, let us do more than remember. Let us honour our ancestors by building a Guyana where opportunity defeats poverty, and unity is stronger than division.

The chains were broken. The responsibility to protect freedom now rests with us.

Happy Emancipation Day, Guyana.