The colours of Phagwah remain rich in meaning – President Ali

Statement from President Dr Irfaan Ali:

There is a moment, just before dawn breaks over Guyana, when the world holds its breath. The cane fields whisper in the darkness, the rivers glide silently toward the sea, and somewhere in the distance, the first sounds of life’s rustling begin to stir. This is the threshold between night and morning, between darkness and light, between the old self and the new.

On this sacred morning of Phagwah, I stand with you at that threshold.

To my Hindu brothers and sisters, who have kept this festival exuberant, colourful, and alive across generations, I offer more than greetings; I offer gratitude. You have taught us that Holi is not merely a celebration but a revelation: that good shall always triumph over evil, that the soul, like the earth itself, must be renewed and reborn with each passing season.

And to those Guyanese and visitors who have journeyed home from distant shores, whose feet now press again upon Guyanese soil, welcome home, welcome to Guyana. You are not visitors here. You are like the returning tide, the branches of the great tree bending back toward its roots. Your presence completes our circle.

The colours of Phgwah remain rich in meaning. The red powder that stains our faces and clothes—is it not the same red that runs through every human vein, whether Hindu or Christian, Muslim or Indigenous, African or Indian or Chinese or Portuguese? The blue that clings to our skin—is it not the same blue that arches over every Guyanese head, from the Rupununi savannahs to the Atlantic shore? The yellow, the green, the pink, the purple—they are not divisions. They are revelations. They are the visible proof that beauty lies not in uniformity, but in the glorious, joyful mingling of difference.

When we gather in the streets to celebrate this joyous festival, when we chase each other with abrack and water, when laughter rises like incense from every home and village road, we are not merely playing. We are performing a sacred truth: that beneath the powder, beneath the skin, beneath every label the world has taught us to wear, we are one. That is the significance of Holi. It does not ask for your beliefs. It simply invites you to belong.

This year, as we celebrate, let us carry that invitation forward into every day that follows. Let us build a Guyana where the colour of a child’s skin matters less than the colour of their dreams. Where the texture of their hair is not a measure of their worth, but simply part of the infinite variety of human beauty. Where their religion is a path they walk in peace, and their class is not a cage but a circumstance that can be transcended.

Let us work to build a Guyana where every single person, whether they worship in a mandir, a mosque, a church, or only in the cathedral of their own quiet heart, can stand in the sunlight and say: “Here, I belong. Here, I can become.”

This is not a small dream. It is the largest dream there is. It is the dream for which our ancestors struggled, for which they laboured and wept and hoped.

Happy Phagwah to all. May your lives be drenched in joy, may your hearts be filled with love, and may the Guyana we build together be worthy of the beauty we create today.

Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali

President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana