Gov’t fostering wholesome families for a stable Guyana – Min. Edghill
Guyanese, specifically men were Sunday morning charged with the responsibility of owning their role as men and fathers to ensure a stable future for their families.
The plea was made by Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, as he joined the awareness walk hosted by the Berea Seventh-day Adventist Church’s One Love Marriage Club, through the streets of Georgetown.
During the closing ceremony, Minister Edghill emphasised the importance of family, marriage, and the promotion of strong, wholesome relationships, while reiterating the government’s position of supporting families.
“As a government, we want more families to succeed. Don’t interpret government policies of supporting single parents and women that are unmarried to mean that government is promoting single parenthood.
“Government is mainly responding to the crisis of society by ensuring that our single women are not left behind, but have sufficient to take care of themselves and their families. But the idea is that we want wholesome families,” the minister pointed out.
To this end, he called on men to stand tall in their responsibilities, while noting that President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s Men on a Mission (MoM) initiative is part of achieving the task.
“When President Ali initiated the Men on a Mission network for some people it was just about politics, and for some people, it was just about another good initiative. But for us (the government) it was more than that. It was a recognition that if society would be stabilised, families must be stabilised, and if families are going to be stabilised then men must be stabilised,” Minister Edghill stressed.
“Men must go back home, men must take responsibility, men must play a role in the raising of their children. We need to let society see that more men are taking roles and responsibility in society,” he added.
Additionally, the minister advocated for more relationship mentoring to provide couples with guidance to strengthen their marriages to prevent the increasing number of divorces.
Minister Edghill also emphasised the role of the church in the nation’s development, asserting that it should not be relegated to a peripheral position, but should actively contribute to shaping and supporting stable families and marriages.
