President David Granger has issued a call for citizens to redouble their efforts against what he described as the “four horsemen” that are hindering the country’s development: crime, disease, ignorance and poverty.
He was at the time addressing the congregation of the Guyana District of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas yesterday at the closing rally of its conference held at the National Cultural Centre, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.
“Together we must work to achieve the national unity we dreamt of 50 years ago. We must enhance the social cohesion we hoped would have been the dividend of Independence; recommit ourselves to building this beautiful country,” the President said.
He declared that strong institutions are critical in order to nurture the young generation away from crime.
Granger also alighted on the proliferation of diseases such as dengue, malaria, gastroenteritis and more recently, chikungunya and zika.
“We are called to ensure a cleaner and greener environment, a more sanitary and healthy environment so that we can bring up our children in a healthy country and overcome that horseman of epidemic diseases,” the President said.
Ignorance is another affliction that must be addressed in order for the country to move forward. Granger said, that too many children are failing exams even at the primary level.
“Every year over 4,000 Guyanese children drop out of primary and secondary schools. Many of them are semi-illiterate or completely illiterate. We cannot build a country, we cannot build a new society, we cannot go into another 50 years of Guyanese Independence with a population, which is dropping out of school at this rate,” President Granger stressed as he had done on other occasions.
On poverty, the President said that it is the root of inequality which affects a large part of the population; preventing them from getting an education and overcoming diseases.
He added “Poor people have very few choices…the Government cannot solve these problems alone. The message I bring today to you is to appeal to the Methodist Church to work with other non-governmental organisations, other religious organisations to overcome these four horsemen of the apocalypse,” he said.
