Political leaders urge ‘unity’, commitment to God

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has bemoaned the pervasiveness of conflict within the society.

Speaking at the fourth annual National Day of Prayer, ‘Heal the Family, Heal the Nation’, held on Wednesday at the Power of Faith Ministries International in Portmore, St Catherine, Holness indicated that in order to achieve peace, a partnership needed to be forged between the Government, the Church, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding.

Holness, who brought brief greetings to the congregation right after reading the morning’s first lesson from Philippians 2 verses 1-11, said that there was conflict present in all aspects of society such as within the personal lives of citizens, within communities, and even within the workplace.

In speaking of a conversation he had with a citizen on New Year’s Eve night, Holness stated that the concerned woman voiced to him that something needed to be done to address the crime situation in the nation.

He stated that despite conveying to her that the recent statistics for 2023 indicated that murders were down approximately 7.5 per cent and that major crimes were the lowest they have been in 22 years, she still insisted that something needed to be done about crime.

“That was very profound because it says that though our economy is doing well, though we are building the infrastructure, though the statistics – murders are going down, violent crimes, serious crimes are going down – how people feel, what they are being exposed to, what comes across on their social media, it is having an impact on our mental health. It is having an impact on how we perceive our well-being and that is dangerous,” he said.

As such, Holness stated that to achieve peace, in a more deliberate and non-political way, unity was essential.

“When we analyse the murder statistics you know what we’ve found? Gang murders have gone down, [but] interpersonal crime resulting in murder is going up. It tells a story that personal conflict is resulting in the violence. So we have to, as a government, as a people, JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) and PNP (People’s National Party), we’re going to have to join together to deal with this issue of violence,” he said.

Holness announced that he had received preliminary results from the National Violence Prevention Commission and that he would be converting the findings into strategies to address the problem of violence.

“Crimes are going down, but violence is too much for us in our society,” he added.

The prime minister also noted that he firmly believed that “in all our hearts, we want the same thing. We all want peace in our country, we all want to be able to live in some form of comfort. We don’t all want to be rich, but we certainly don’t all have to be poor, and to get to that point, we all have to be productive. We all want to be gainfully employed in doing something from which we can earn an income, from which we can meet our expenses, and if we focus on those two things as a people, we can achieve that, but there are some challenges that we face.”

He continued that the pursuit of material things was not sufficient and that mankind had to “get things right with our soul”.

Holness also spoke of the importance of this calendar event for which he makes time in his schedule to attend annually.

“All of us will have to face our maker, and no matter how powerful we think we are, and in the moment, no matter how much wealth we have, we must face our maker. So, it is important that as a nation, each of us gets right with the Lord,” he said, adding that prayer was a crucial part of this process and even more so when the nation gathered to pray.

The National Day of Prayer was held with the aim of ‘restoring the heart of the nation as one family’.

Golding, who gave remarks prior to reading the morning’s second scripture from Ephesians 4 verses 1-10, stated that despite the many challenges Jamaica faced as a country, “we remained a beautiful and blessed island”.

He continued that with the “will and help of the Father”, the nation will be able to overcome its challenges.

“We must never be so daunted that we give up hope. We must believe in ourselves and in our nation, and we must commit ourselves to living a righteous life in accordance to the will of God as expressed through our Lord and Saviour, His son, Jesus Christ, [who] can guide us to a better way of living, a better society, and a better Jamaica,” Golding said.

The opposition leader also said the Jamaican people loved to witness both the Government and the Opposition coming together in unity so that they can “collectively face all the challenges of the nation and overcome them for the benefit of this generation and generations to come”.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com