Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen (L) greets student of Charlton Primary School in Alexandria, St. Ann, Karl Brown (C), while Karl Brown Sr., who is a Guidance Counsellor at the Brown’s Town High School, shares the moment. His Excellency visited St. Ann yesterday (June 24), which was his first stop on his island-wide tour.
The tour kicked off in the parish of St. Ann yesterday (June 24) with the Governor-General and his wife, the Most. Hon. Lady Allen, meeting with residents, justices of the peace (JPs) and Custos of the Parish, Hon. Radcliffe O. Walters, at the Moneague College.
The Governor-General, in addressing a function, which featured performances in music and dance by students, said that the island-wide tour was in fulfillment of a promise made at his inauguration on February 26 to reach out to Jamaicans, where they reside.
“I promised Jamaicans that I would travel the entire island getting to know you, hearing and learning from you, and sharing with you how we can move forward in building a strong nation. Today marks my first official step as I set out to reach out to the parishes of Jamaica,” His Excellency said.
He urged the JPs to work with communities in the fight against crime. “You have the confidence and respect of the citizens; use that to build trust among contending factions or to solve petty disputes before they evolve into something unmanageable. As JPs, you have to exercise multiple roles in the community as teacher, pastor, politician and physician,” he said.
He further encouraged them to always take advantage of every opportunity to motivate and encourage the people around them to do what was right and to keep hope alive, which was the message of his ‘I Believe’ campaign.
“We have to keep the message of hope alive. I believe that every Jamaican can contribute to national development and I invite everyone to come on board. Together, we can motivate each other to believe that they can achieve whatever their goals, dreams and visions of what Jamaica should be and where they fit in,” the Governor-General said.
Stating that the youth were the future of the country, the Governor-General said he had the pleasure of listening to young people at the Youth Consultative Breakfast in St. Catherine last month and “they were intelligent, respectful and expressed a full knowledge and understanding of what is happening in Jamaica and around the world.”
He said he was confident that the future of Jamaica was in the right hands and appealed to the adult members of society to seek to help to mentor the youth. “If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to mentor the young people, especially youth from your communities, and especially those who are experiencing trying situations,” he said.
While in St. Ann, Their Excellencies also visited the St. Hilda’s Diocesan High School in Brown’s Town and the Royal Plantation Resort in Ocho Rios.
They will next visit the parish of Westmoreland on a date to be announced.