Garfield Grandison (left), The Gleaner's editor-in-chief, chats with the Reverend Dr. Paul Gardner, Gleaner Silver Pen recipient for the month of April, after he presented him with his pen at the company's North Street offices, central Kingston, on Thursday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
SILVER PEN awardee for the month of April, the Reverend Dr. Paul Gardner, believes that a resurrection of accountability and integrity will be achieved if Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's plan to appoint ministers of religion to Government boards is implemented.
Reverend Gardner, president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, was speaking with The Gleaner on Thursday after being presented with the award by the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Garfield Grandison.
SIMPSON MILLER'S PROPOSAL
He won the award for his letter entitled, 'The Prime Minister needs an adviser on religious affairs', which endorsed Mrs. Simpson Miller's proposal to appoint pastors to public sector boards.
"I really commend her and I think the country is needing it," he said. "The Church has played an important role in education and has had an impact on moral education."
He added: "I believe she has recognised this and she wants to implement that in the wider society."
POLITICS AFFECTS RELIGION
Reverend Gardner said the society needs to acknowledge that the Church and the State are intricately linked. "We need to recognise that politics affect religion and that religion affects politics, therefore, people need to stop ignoring this."
He dismissed findings by the recent Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll that placing pastors on public sector boards would not clean up politics in the country, and said that, though corruption is entrenched in the society, placing pastors on boards will help in increasing accountability and probity into the issues of the nation.
"Although I am speaking from a Christian viewpoint, I believe that a pastor should not be on the board merely because he is a pastor, but because he has a proven track record of integrity, accountability and competence," he said.
Rev. Gardner believes
the move would be a timely one for Jamaica, as according to him, the country needs to focus
again on value education and wholesomeness.
