… says Guyana will achieve its full potential only through  government/church partnership
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday headed a list of 46 awardees honoured by the Guyana Conference of Seventh Day Adventists for outstanding service to the nation, during the inaugural session of the Third Quadrennial Meeting, at the Central  Seventh Day Adventist Church, Oronoque and Church Streets, in the city. In presenting the award to  President Jagdeo, Mrs. Barbara Savoury, an executive of the Conference of Seventh Day Adventists declared: “This Award is presented to His Excellency Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the youngest serving President, outstanding statesman, insightful environmentalist and dynamic leader.”

Of the 46 awardees, 17 were non-Adventists, while 29 were members of the Seventh Day Adventist body.  Other non-Adventist awardees were:  Mr. Hamilton Green, Mayor of Georgetown; Bishop Randolph George of the Anglican Diocese; Pastor John Oswald Smith of the Central Assembly of God Church; Professor Aubrey Bishop; Dr. Enid Denbow; Dr. Ian Mc Donald; Dr. Steve Surujbally; Dr. Joyce Jonas; R. Moti Lall; Dr. Gary Stephens; Dr. Desrey Fox (posthumously); Ms. Dorothy Fraser; Ms. Denise Dias; the National AIDS Programme Secretariat; and Food for the Poor.

President Jagdeo, in his feature address,  said , “I wanted to be here.”
“ I wanted to be here to say thank you for the tremendous work you have done in Guyana, and for assisting with the complex social tasks that we have set ourselves in the country… I wanted to say that personally,” President Jagdeo declared.

President Jagdeo congratulated the Church for the work it has been doing and continues to do, in fostering among other things – a sense of patriotism among Guyanese, the tremendous social work it undertakes in society, and partnership it shares with government, apart from  its work of preaching the gospel.

Underscoring the importance of a partnership between government and the church, President Jagdeo emphasised, “Guyana will never, ever be able to achieve its true potential unless there is a partnership between the government and church,” adding that without this partnership, the country will not develop in a rounded way – something that  is absolutely necessary in this country.

And taking pride in Guyana, a country richly blessed by God, President Jagdeo stressed that the three most important things in any society are:  God, country and family, adding, “We can’t help when we listen to our national songs – falling in love with our country again, over and over, because God has blessed us with a wonderful country and wonderful people too.”

Meanwhile, observing a pattern whereby our people do not spend enough time on thanksgiving for all that we have, or the things that bring us together, but tend to focus more on the things that are wrong with our country, the Head of state remarked, “but that is changing.”
He added that, no doubt, the church in Guyana has made a very large contribution to the change that is taking place in this country.

And touching on the importance of economic revival of a nation and how it impacts people’s way of life, President Jagdeo said it is important to ensure people have the ability to live  decent lives. As such,  government’s policies have focused on trying to move the country forward, particularly at this very difficult time in world affairs.

It is here that Guyana has demonstrated its mettle at being able to realise economic growth,  even as the world is faced with the most serious global recession since the 1930s.  Incredibly, Guyana has been able to realise economic growth – and this flows back to the people in the form of better services.  In this regard, the President cited as priorities of his government: (a) keeping the economy growing and (b)  keeping the people healthy, educated and having more access to the things that make life easy, such as housing and other facilities.

Albeit, President Jagdeo observed, since development and modernization come with new challenges, there is a greater role for the church, adding, “Unless we have people with strong characters, unless we have a moral revival in Guyana to match the economic progress, I am fearful that our country may become wealthy economically, but we may not live fulfilling lives.”

Noting that society was not characterised by a lack of social ills, he said the message should be one of building character and patience, so that when people are confronted with temptations they would make the right decisions.

In this regard, the Head of State said he is of the view that the church has a huge role to play, particularly as it relates to instilling much needed discipline and values in the minds of people as would cause them to refrain from taking actions that would destroy themselves and the state, especially since people tend to circumvent regulations put in place, to pursue their own ends

“And so, I ask the Church to help us to strengthen the character of every Guyanese …  every God-fearing person … and even the ones who don’t fear God, so they can make the right choices in life.”  Noting that it would not be possible to remove all temptations from society, President Jagdeo was confident that the church can help people to make the right choices, while lending a supporting shoulder.

Expressing concern that, too often, when people have to make those crucial choices they are all alone; when they have to sit at the crossroads and are faced with  two paths to life, they end up making decisions without any support.  “Many times it’s the people at the street corner, the drug dealers and the criminals who socialise with these youngsters, who help them make the decisions that are criminal,” President Jagdeo said, adding that the church has to lend a helping hand.

He also had kudos for many a single mother who, while being busy trying to keep the family alive, nonetheless turns out to do admirable jobs of parenting, making some of ‘the best parents in the world.’

And noting that Jesus’ life was characterised, not just by hope, but by service, President Jagdeo cautioned the gathering, saying, “So we need not just to pray in beautiful edifices, but to go to the communities where the people are, because if we preach to the converted every week, we are not going to transform Guyana.”

Stressing that the people out there need the message of the church more than anything else – even more than the faithful- President Jagdeo threw out the charge that, “I hope that as our country moves forward in the economic sense, and as we make more social progress, we will learn to love our country more, and we will also match the economic and social progress by moral precedence and by strengthening the character of each citizen in this country.”

Stating that the Bible has all the lessons needed, President Jagdeo expressed confidence that “should we follow the lessons of the Bible, then we can live strong, moral and healthy lives.”

Staged with fanfare, the programme began with a ceremonial march past on Church Street, staged by a contingent of smartly attired Pathfinders, with President Bharrat Jagdeo taking the salute and later inspecting the guard-of-honour.
There was also a colourful parade of flags of  member nations of the Caribbean Conference of Churches.