The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE time for politics is over, Bahamas Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander said yesterday, as he urged parliamentarians to “put their differences aside” and work together for the betterment of The Bahamas.

At the annual parliamentary church service at Church of God Cathedral, Bishop Fernander said that neither the Free National Movement (FNM) nor the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) “has a monopoly on good ideas” and implored both parties to “put the past in the past”.

“The time for politics is over now, it is the time to come together and govern a nation and move these people forward no matter which party you belong to, no matter what colour you wear and no matter what church you go to,” he said.

“We must remember that we are all Bahamians and we must remember that we must all bleed the colours of our flag and at the end of the day we have to leave The Bahamas better than we met it. No party has a monopoly on good ideas, neither does any one personal group, whether the church or any civic organisation, no one has a monopoly on all the answers for our nation.

“We are stronger together. As we move forward in our nation we need to leave the past in the past. So many times, we tend to dwell on the negative and we reflect on all the things that went wrong but as long as we continue to dwell on the few things that divide us, we won’t see the things that unite us as long as we continue to move forward and then pull ourselves backward we will never move to where the Lord has called this great nation to be. We can do more than where we are at. God has anointed you for the job, you are up for the task. God is calling us to a place where the focus must be on The Bahamas and Bahamians from Grand Bahama to Inagua,” Bishop Fernander said.

“We must realise we must have a positive impact and when it is all said and done, what will be your legacy? That you argued all year, that we got on each other’s nerves? We have to make sure people look back and say these are the best sons and daughters for the job. The future of this country is in your hands,” Bishop Fernander added.

Anglican Archdeacon James Palacious used the opportunity to offer the services of the clergy to the government in the fight against crime.

“As church leaders we can do more,” he said.

“Tell us how we can partner with you. Tell us how we can work together. It is our country. Tell us how we can work together in the detection, prosecution and the preventative measures of crime. We can work feverishly together. If we work together we can make a tremendous difference. We have a Bahamas to build and we can do it together.”