JOYOUS Phagwah greetings, to my Hindu brothers and sisters and indeed all Guyanese. This is a very special occasion, in the Hindu calendar of events, where purity of heart and spirit and the attitude of giving are emphasized.

I hope and pray that, as you celebrate the purity of your incentives would be reflected in our local communities and the general environment. Our years must be clean and tidy free from overgrowths and accumulations of rubbish and other things. There should be a general sense of neighborliness and goodness, to work together for the common good of all.

As you celebrate, let it bring our people closer together in unity regardless of race, colour and religious and other persuasions. Let us remember that, in unity there is strength–a value needed to arrest the degeneration of the spiritual and moral fabric of our society. As you celebrate, pray for peace and be an ambassador of that peace, for in this there is order and prosperity.