We beseech his wisdom in leading us through this valley of darkness
Those were the words uttered by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell in a National Thanksgiving Day message to the people of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique to give thanks and praise to the Lord for looking over the island during COVID-19.
The Prime Minister regarded the day as one in which all can “come together in unity to seek the divine intervention of our Lord and Saviour”.
“It is through his mercy that we have come this far and today we come together to give him thanks and to seek his continued blessings,” he said.
“As a Christian nation we are no strangers to prayers and its values in our lives. As individuals, we offer daily prayers asking the Lord to keep us and restore us, but we come before him today as a family to ask for the healing of the nation…,” he added.
Prime Minister Mitchell told Grenadians that the coronavirus has changed the world including the old way of doing business with one another.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world as we know it. It has forced physical distancing upon us as a means of curbing its spread, but at the same time, it has provided an opportunity for us to come together spiritually to join our hearts in praise and thanksgiving,” he said.
The Prime Minister made passing mention of the thousands who have been killed by the virus including those Grenadians living in the Diaspora like the United States and Britain.
He said: “Many have not made it to this day as the dreaded disease continues to claim thousands of lives – some of them our own relatives. For those of us who are still here, we seek guidance to navigate the perilous path of this disease. We seek comfort as we grieve the loss of loved ones. We seek strength to cope with our changed reality, and we seek hope for the future.
Prime Minister Mitchell labelled those in the frontline battle in Grenada against COVID-19 like heath care workers, police officers and the other Essential Services as “our earthly heroes” who were responsible for “physically taking us through the storm, but they do so because they are themselves guided by the Almighty”.
He went on: “Sisters and brothers as we rethink our lives and strategise for the future, let us not depart from the warm embrace of our God, let us trust in his infinite wisdom and his abounding strength.
“No one said the road was going to be easy, but we also know that many hands make light work. Therefore, in joining our hands today, we seek with one voice to glorify and demonstrate our faith in him as our Lord and Saviour.
“Therefore, as we stand together as one today, let us do so believing that our prayers will be answered, that our wishes would be granted, that our resolve to be our brother’s keeper will be strengthened and that our nation will rise again.
The Prime Minister commended his own Ministry of Religious Affairs, headed by Education Minister Emmalin Pierre, as well as the Grenada Conference of Churches and the Alliance of Evangelical Churches for “this timely initiative” of the National Day of Thanksgiving prayers.
One of the religious leaders, Apostle Wendiann Ruffin in her Prayers of Thanksgiving called on God for the island to see “honest and new investors” as Grenada emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the years, Prime Minister Mitchell’s ruling New National Party (NNP) administration has been held responsible for making a number of bad policy decisions including the guaranteeing of millions of dollars in bank loans to shady foreign investors.
It emerged last year that over EC$52.2 million dollars in Grenadian passports were sold under the Citizenship By Investment (CBI) programme to raise funds to build a Shrimp Farm in Victoria, St. Mark but the money has disappeared.
The failed Shrimp Farm project was being undertaken by the Grenada Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) Limited Company involving the Sweden-born developer Soren Dawody who is believed to be operating out of Canada.
Government has promised an investigation into the missing funds but no update has been given to the nation in recent months.