Lead Editor - Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
Roman Catholic Archbishop Jason Gordon has urged political parties in the April 28 General Election race not to make “fanciful” promises to the population that they know cannot materialise. He said such promises are dishonest.
Gordon was speaking to Guardian Media yesterday after celebrating Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
Gordon also warned political parties against rhetoric that divides the country ahead of the General Election, reminding the country’s politicians that there will be life after polling day.
He said, “At the end of this, on April 29th, we still have a country. On the 29th, we are still one people. On the 29th, we still have to live together. On the 29th, we are still going to be working with each and sitting next to each other all over the place. Please do not divide us,” Archbishop Gordon said.
“Please give us big ideas and big vision and show us where you really want to go. Don’t give us fanciful things that you know cannot be done. That’s just not honest. Give us real things that you know you can do in five years and let us choose the best one forward.”
The head of the Roman Catholic Church also had a message for the electorate. He said those tasked with voting on April 28 have an important job, but he called on the populace to pray before voting.
He said, “The national anthem has a beautiful line; every creed and race must find an equal place. We can’t do voting by race. We have to do voting by ideas, by issues, by what takes our country forward, by who has a vision for this country, to unite the country and to bring it into the 21st century.”
He went further in urging, “Firstly, you have an obligation to vote. It’s not only a civic responsibility, it’s also a spiritual responsibility. Democracy is not the best form of government, but it is the best we have, and therefore, we have to participate fully in it.
“Secondly, pray and discern. This idea that I born this and I’ll die that, no. You ask God to show you who is the best to take us forward and then when you do that with your clear conscience, on the 29th when you wake up, whoever that government is, that government is the government of the whole people of T&T. They are not the government of those who voted for them.”
Meanwhile, the Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley also urged voters to pray before deciding who they should vote for.
He said, “It is a time of renewal and newness and transformation. We pray that people’s spiritual lives have been boosted that they are energised that they can exercise what is best for the nation, for their families and for their communities.
“In that spirit, I would only say that people should be at prayer, they should be sober in their conversations and have due respect for one another.”
Berkley says he is hoping that the General Election passes peacefully and in good order.
