GUYANESE are, above all, a religious people. And as we celebrate Phagwah and Easter festivals with the common messages of peace, love and God’s overarching love for the family of humanity prevailing, we need, as a nation, to reflect on the underlying messages that are the threadwork of each religion in Guyana.

And then we need to decide on our focus for the future for ourselves as individuals, and also as responsible citizens of this nation, whose foremost priority is the upward mobility of the national developmental graphs, which could only be sustained if there is unity in the land, and a recognition that fighting among ourselves is retrogressive at every level of national development.

In local parlance, ‘it takes two hands to clap’, and while the Government can make monies available and create synergies and policies for development, this cannot eventuate optimally, if there is constant bickering in the National Assembly, and strategies are formulated to impede the development momentum that will catalyse Guyana on a trajectory that will lead to faster and expanded economic growth, and greater social development.

Many Guyanese will be attending temples and churches during this festive season that yet impels need for reflection on the spiritual aspect of these celebrations, and one wonders whether this customary attendance at houses of worship during this season is prompted by merely ritualistic adherence to the mores of tradition, the prospect of a fashion parade, or a social outing; or whether the actual spirit of the season will be observed with the solemn consideration of the uplifting connotations inherent in the observances of these significant holidays, or holy days.

If the latter is the dominant reason for worship, then, with such a collective voice raised in supplication to the great and merciful Father of the Universe, Our Lord is bound to bestow his blessings and beneficence on our nation, and lead us on to a pathway of peace, progress and prosperity.