The Cabinet has called this year's Mashramani celebrations the grandest and most widely supported yet, and has congratulated Minister of Culture Gail Teixeira and all those who contributed to the success of this year's activities

Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, last week told reporters that the national activity had been widely supported not only in Georgetown but all across the country,

However, PNC/R chairman, Robert Corbin, at a press conference on Thursday called the government hypocritical and recalled the efforts it had made to downplay the celebrations soon after it took office.

He recalled statements by Dr Dale Bisnauth in 1994, then responsible for culture, as saying among other things that "Mashramani was imposed on people and was basically a Georgetown event" and that "whether we like it or not, Mashramani celebrations over the years have been perceived as an occasion for Afro-Guyanese more than anything else."

Corbin said that having failed to destroy Mash, the government had expediently embraced the celebrations.

He challenged critics of his party's flag-raising ceremony on February 22, which Dr Luncheon had described as divisive, "to provide any shred of evidence that it attempted to include the PNC/R in any discussions aimed at securing our full participation in organizing national Mashramani celebrations."

Corbin derided as foolish ramblings, Teixeira's explanation as to why the flag-raising ceremony was not held in Georgetown at midnight on February 22, whereas the ceremonies in the rest of the regions were held on that evening. The ceremony in Georgetown was held on February 23, at 7:00 am in the forecourt of the Public Buildings.

He also derided her claim that the celebrations this year were the biggest ever. "It is obvious she never attended the magnificent parades during the stewardship of the PNC and along with leaders of her party consistently boycotted the national celebrations for nearly 15 years. One costume band in our time was larger than all the revellers she could muster on Mash Day."