PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar yesterday launched the Salvation Army’s Christmas Appeal with every good wish for the continued success of its activities in the country, and a commitment of Government’s continued support for the organisation.

He noted that the Army’s [humanitarian] objectives run in sync with Government’s.

Delivering the keynote address at the Army’s launch of its Annual Christmas Appeal at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street in Georgetown, President Ramotar extended kudos to the Salvation Army for its impactful and ongoing humanitarian work, which has spanned a century in Guyana, and said, “Once more, it is indeed, for me, a great pleasure to be here, to take this opportunity to wish the Salvation Army every success in this great humanitarian work that you have been doing for far more than a century now, and to also assure you that you can look to us for support for any type of assistance that we can give, because we see your objectives and our objectives are all going in the same direction.”

The Head of State, who, in spite of his busy work schedule with matters of state still made time to attend the function, said: “I always try my best to attend activities of the Salvation Army, to let you know how much we appreciate the amount of work that you have been doing in our society.”

Even as he acknowledged the various forms of assistance the Salvation Army gives to the needy and otherwise vulnerable, the President singled out for commendable mention the Army’s Drug Rehabilitation programme, which works at rehabilitating and reforming substance abusers and salvaging them from the brink of disaster.

“The help that you extend [in this regard] is one of the best types of help that I can think about. It is the help that tries to empower them [substance abusers]; to give them the capacity to be able to help themselves, and in the process to help others. That is at the core of your activities, which is also at the core of our activities…” the President said.

Noting that many of the Salvation Army’s main objectives are similar to what Government is trying to do, the President proceeded to draw a parallel: “We try to help the poor; help to give support to the vulnerable in the society, and we continuously try to do that at every level of our society.”

The Salvation Army’s mantra or slogan for its Christmas activities is, “Sharing is Caring”, and Government recently embarked on a massive countrywide programme dubbed.”Because we Care”, through which Government is distributing literally millions of dollars to school children to assist them in securing a sound education and to empower themselves academically.

“Our excess spending on education is also to empower our youth to be able to help themselves, and in the process to develop our country.
The President cited the increased allocation to our senior citizens for pensions, which have been increased from about $300 per month when the administration took office, to $13,600 per month. The means test which had hitherto applied has also been removed.

The President also alluded to Government’s investment in its health services, to ensure a strong and healthy nation of people who can live and enjoy more productive lives for themselves and for our country as a whole.

President Ramotar added it is opportune that, at this time of the year, the time of peace and goodwill, there should be such activities as would seek to mobilise and generate help for those in need.

On this note, President Ramotar said, “Allow me also to say that it is some of these same motivations that have motivated many of my own actions. My recent actions to prorogue Parliament, I see it has been widely misinterpreted, but it was also to try to give an opportunity for dialogue, and hopefully that it will succeed — to have dialogue; to have discussions; to have compromises; to have agreements; and for us to move on. I think that that would have been far better than shutting the Parliament down.

The Head of State was at pains to make it clear that, contrary to what some might think, proroguing the Parliament does not give him a wider scope of powers.

“Proroguing the Parliament does not give me one single ounce of power more than the presidency already has given to me,” he declared.

And on ill-informed statements about spending monies during the proroguing, he stated categorically that every cent that is spent during this period has to be within the confines of the budget that has been passed.

Further, whatever is to be spent will still have to go to the Parliament for its approval whenever Parliament is reconvened, which he hopes will be “sooner rather than later.”
The Head of State concluded by saying that in this season of peace and goodwill, he hopes that the action taken by him will be able to make a contribution that favours further understanding and development in our society as a whole, and would take the country forward. He also expressed hope that we can move from strength to strength, and find ourselves in a position to help others who are also struggling for a better life.

Then came the symbolic ‘Launch of the Kettles’ by President Donald Ramotar, who was the first to make a generous donation, paving the way for others to make theirs.

Other speakers were Divisional Commander Major Emmerson Cumberbatch, who gave the introductory remarks; and Chairman of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, Mr. Edward Boyer. Divisional Director of Women’s Service, Mjr. Carolinda Cumberbatch presented tokens of appreciation to special guests — President Donald Ramotar and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.

Others among the distinguished gathering were Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh; Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran; members of the diplomatic corps; Chief Executive Officer of the Georgetown Public Hospital, Mr. Michael Khan; Justice Oslen Small, and other Members of the Advisory Board.

The programme was spiced with symphonious musical renditions by the Republican Steel Orchestra and the Divisional Youth Choir, and lusty carol singing headed by Divisional Secretary Mjr. Laura Augusto. A skit was also rendered by clients of the Drug Rehabilitation Programme.