Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Mitzie Seaga, then wife of Prime Minister Edward Seaga (centre), embraces both her husband and Opposition Leader Michael Manley, bringing them closer for a rare handshake. This was at the sixth annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, January 17, 1986, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. - File

For the last 27 years, leaders from all sectors of the nation have gathered for the annual staging of the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast (NLPB) to seek God's guidance on national affairs. Despite this, however, the country has continued to battle the debilitating plague of crime and violence, among several other social ills.

This has left many to wonder whether the NLPB is more of a ritual, where the nation's leaders come together for a day of pageantry, rather than for a time for unity and reconciliation.

The Rev. Don McDowell, of Global Highways and By-ways Mission tells The Sunday Gleaner that, in essence, he agrees with the concept of the NLPB. "However, I am not satisfied that it has been effective enough and I wonder whether it has become a status symbol for many who attend or if its a real effort to get the Almighty involved in the affairs of the nation," comments Rev. McDowell.

moral identity

He believes that until the Church, which hosts the event, cleans up its act, the NLPB will continue without much result.

"The Church has lost its moral identity; there is too much hypocrisy and unchristian practices among church leaders and as a result, I believe that people in the church pray and God does not hear their prayers," he said.

Popular gospel artiste, Lieutenant Stitchie, agrees with this sentiment. According to the ordained minister, who came to prominence in the 1980s as a secular deejay, but has since changed his ways and now regards himself as a "man of God," the NLPB has become ritualistic rather than meaningful.

"I don't have a problem with the whole idea of coming together, because I know that there is power in corporate prayer," he says. "The single act of getting leaders together to pray, in one place, I must admit, is an accomplishment within itself, but in terms of the effectiveness of it, I am not seeing any evidence," he adds.

Dr. Las Newman, former secretary and member of the NLPB committee, relates that the NLPB began out of the need to create a climate of peace and unity among leaders of the State, the Church and civic life, so they can work together for the betterment of the country.

"The politics of the 1970s really did not lead Jamaica forward positively, and matters came to a head in the 1980 General Election," he recounts.

reconciliation

"After the elections, the country was so fractured that the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) took the initiative to bring the political leadership together in an atmosphere of reconciliation, and attempted to create peace and unity at that level," Dr. Newman adds.

He says the NLPB has seen many successes over the years. One of the most memorable, he notes, was in 1986 when the then Prime Minister, the Jamaica Labour Party's Edward Seaga and Opposition Leader, the People's National Party Michael Manley, were led to shake hands after a long stand-off.

"That was a very difficult period for Jamaica. One party had absolute power, they had all 60 seats in the house and many people were wondering if there would ever be a breakthrough," he said.

Dr. Newman argues it was the Church, through the NLPB, which created that moment.

"The breakfast is not a waste of time," states Dr. Newman. "It is a symbolic act. It provides that very important space where leaders, who are antagonistic towards one another, can come together."

While he agrees with the sentiment of bringing the event outside the venue of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, where it has been held for many years, and on to the streets where the wider community could participate, he believes this would completely change the focus of the event.

"The Prayer Breakfast is not an attempt to speak to the community; it is an attempt to speak to leaders," he said.

Projects that have benefited from the NLPB over the years

2006 NLPB - $300,000 was donated to the computer lab at the Rio Cobre Correctional Facility, St. Catherine, for boys 12-17 years.

2004 NLPB - $180,000 was collected for the establishment of a night shelter for the poor and homeless street people in the Corporate Area.

2003 NLPB - $150,000 was collected and given to Maleke Palmer, a two-year-old who suffered from gun violence in Jamaica in 2002.

1988 NLPB - $7,640.29 was collected for the Riverton City Development.

1987 NLPB - $9,000 was collected to assist the Cohen brothers of Clarendon with medical expenses for treatment of a rare medical illness.

1986 NLPB - $3,258 was collected and divided between the PSOJ Premier Plaza Explosion Fund ($1,000) and Sylvia Drummond ($2,258), a foster parent in the parish of Clarendon.