Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior lec­tur­er at the Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies, Dr Jerome Teelucks­ingh, says Re­pub­lic Day should be more than a pub­lic hol­i­day. He is urg­ing cit­i­zens to use this year’s oc­ca­sion for re­flec­tion, di­a­logue and ac­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion in the na­tion’s de­mo­c­ra­t­ic life.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Teelucks­ingh said, “Re­pub­lic Day has the po­ten­tial to cre­ate pa­tri­o­tism and uni­ty. It’s a day to ex­am­ine our di­ver­si­ty, cel­e­brate the con­tri­bu­tions of both our he­roes and or­di­nary cit­i­zens, and re­flect on who we are as a peo­ple.”