Her Excellency, the Most Hon. Rhmeia Hall, addressing the 29th annual Prayer Breakfast. At right is His Excellency, the Governor-General, the Most Hon. Professor Kenneth Hall.
She was addressing the 29th National Leadership Prayer Breakfast (NLPB) this morning (Jan. 15), at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston under the theme: ‘No Transformation Without Reconciliation’.
The theme, Lady Hall pointed out, represents a call for transformational leaders, who are capable of “engaging their constituents in a mutual process of raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.” While noting that reconciliation is a necessary first step, Lady Hall said there is cognisance of the need for additional measures, such as transformation, to achieve specific objectives.
“Transformation speaks to a marked change in the state of affairs of a people, of a community, and organisation, and in the attitude and behaviour of an individual. It naturally implies reconciliation or adjustment between the various parties in order to arrive at a new paradigm and a new relationship. The focus on communities, especially those that have been impacted by crime, is an important point of departure in the transformation and renewal that we seek as a nation,” she stated.
According to Lady Hall, “the case for transformation is overwhelming and hardly requires explicit enumeration. The prevalence of high crime, the attacks upon our children, the persistent and vociferous calls for justice, are all indications that this society will need to rethink its fundamental values, change its institutional framework, and throw up leaders who, by their overt display of acceptable and desirable values, are capable of appealing to the higher ideals and values of the Jamaican people.”
Success in this effort, Lady Hall said, must include the recognition and promotion of indigenous institutions and organisations, which have sought to engender values and visions that have enabled the nation to overcome adversity and achieve excellence in many endeavours.
In this regard, she commended the churches and NLPB sponsor, Victoria Mutual Building Society, for organising the breakfast over the past 29 years.
In his brief remarks, Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Kenneth Hall, noted that the 29th staging of the prayer breakfast is indicative of the “high regard that our leaders and the country in general have for the opportunity, each year, to commence with prayer.”
Their Excellencies, who will demit office on February 26, have been patrons of the NLPB since 2006, when Sir Kenneth Hall assumed office.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, headed the list of dignitaries and guests, who attended the breakfast, which included parliamentarians, custodes, and representatives of the clergy and judiciary.