HGP Nightly News – A Partnership for National Unity made a pointed statement on Saturday, boycotting the national Mashramani flag-raising ceremony and declaring that what was once a unifying national observance has, in its view, devolved into a selective celebration for “friends, family, and favourites.”
In a statement marking Guyana’s 56th Republic Anniversary, APNU congratulated the Guyanese people on the milestone but made clear it could not participate in the official ceremony. The party recalled that under the leadership of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, Guyana attained republican status in 1970, and that in earlier decades, flag-raising ceremonies drew mass participation and fostered genuine unity, pride, and national identity.
The party also referenced past investments by successive PNC administrations in Mashramani and related cultural activities, including the National Calypso Competition, arguing that those initiatives helped shape Guyana’s cultural landscape. Those days, the party suggested, are in the past.
“In recent years, the significance of the flag-raising ceremony and broader Mashramani celebrations has diminished,” the statement read, citing reduced public participation and less emphasis on cultural development as evidence of decline.
The boycott was not an isolated action but one linked to deeper discontent. APNU explicitly tied its decision to concerns about the recently passed 2026 Budget, criticising what it described as a prioritisation of large-scale infrastructure projects over direct benefits to citizens. The implication was clear: a government that fails to prioritise people cannot expect the opposition to join in celebrating the nation’s achievements.
Instead of attending the official ceremony, APNU said its Members of Parliament would join Guyanese in the wider Mashramani Day festivities. “We will be with the people,” the party stated, drawing a deliberate contrast between what it characterised as an exclusive official event and the genuine, grassroots celebrations unfolding across the country.
The boycott lays bare the political fault lines that persist even on a day meant to symbolise national unity. For APNU, absenting itself from the flag-raising was not a rejection of the republic but a rejection of what it sees as the current administration’s approach to governance, selective, exclusionary, and out of step with the broader population.
