Both the Prime Min­is­ter and the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion have en­dorsed the call by re­li­gious lead­ers for a na­tion­al Call to Prayer, and the date has been set for Sun­day Au­gust 2, 2020.

Con­fir­ma­tion has come from a news re­lease is­sued by Catholic Me­dia Ser­vices this morn­ing.

The re­lease states that every cit­i­zen in the en­tire coun­try is in­vit­ed to come to­geth­er to pray for one day, unite and to thank God for the gift of democ­ra­cy.

On­ly this week, re­li­gious lead­ers made a call for a day of prayer to ob­serve the 30th an­niver­sary of the 1990 at­tempt­ed coup by the Ja­maat al Mus­limeen, not­ing that:

“This year’s an­niver­sary is more sig­nif­i­cant be­cause the coun­try is in the midst of prepa­ra­tions for a gen­er­al elec­tion…  Twen­ty-four peo­ple died in the course of the strug­gle as we fought to hold on to democ­ra­cy. Many oth­ers were in­jured. Prime Min­is­ter ANR Robin­son was shot and wound­ed. There was dam­age to prop­er­ty in the mil­lions of dol­lars for which there was no in­sur­ance cov­er. The na­tion was in shock, as the world looked on..."

 The re­lease is­sued by Ro­man Catholic Arch­bish­op Ja­son Gor­don added:

"Thir­ty years lat­er, we must re­mem­ber the high price that we have paid to ex­er­cise our right to vote, the many lives that were lost so that we could be a de­mo­c­ra­t­ic na­tion...”

The Call to Prayer will take place just one week be­fore the Gen­er­al Elec­tion on Mon­day Au­gust 10th.

Re­li­gious lead­ers who are ex­pect­ed to of­fi­ci­ate at the event in­clude:

- The Rt Rev Claude Berkley…  An­gli­can Bish­op of Trinidad and To­ba­go

- Rev Dean Emer­i­tus Dr Knol­ly Clarke…  Pres­i­dent, The In­ter-Re­li­gious Or­ga­ni­za­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go

- The Rt Rev Joy Eve­lyn Ab­dul-Mo­han…  The Pres­by­ter­ian Church of Trinidad and To­ba­go

- The Most Rev­erend Charles Ja­son Gor­don…  Ro­man Catholic Arch­bish­op of Port of Spain

- Rev Max­ine A For­rest-Ed­wards…  The Methodist Church North Trinidad Cir­cuit

- Pun­dit Lutch­mi­dath Ma­haraj…  Ex­ec­u­tive Mem­ber Ma­ha Sab­ha, Ma­ha Sab­ha IRO Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

- Kes Gabre Yesus Nel­son…  Priest in the Ethiopi­an Or­tho­dox Tewa­he­do Church

- Ha­ji Im­ti­az Ali…  Ex­ec­u­tive Mem­ber AS­JA, AS­JA IRO Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

- Rev Dr Ul­ston Pat­more Smith…  Su­per­in­ten­dent, Trinidad Con­fer­ence of Mora­vian Church­es

- His Em­i­nence Pa­tri­arch Dr Stephen F Julien…  Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist Faith

- Pas­tor Leslie Moses…  Sev­enth Day Ad­ven­tist Church