Second religious party seeks votes of churchgoers
YET another religious-based party has been launched in Guyana, calling itself the Kingdom Liberal Movement (KLM), with the primary motivation to “return a high level of moral discipline to Guyana”.
The party held a small launching on November 16, 2019 at Moray House which was unfortunately unattended by the media. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, KLM Campaign Strategist, Apostle Y. Abernaty Jeune, said that the party is made up of mainly pastors, from different independent churches.
However, although the party’s logo depicts a golden crown, synonymous to the Christian religion, it says that it is open to members from the Muslim, Hindu and Rastafarian community. It is not associated with the recently- launched People’s Republic Party (PRP) dubbed ‘the pastors party’; in fact, when the KLM approached the PRP for a possible coalition, it was shot down.
“Even though I said it’s made up of mainly pastors, this is just at the forefront. In no way we want to characterize our brand, the movement, as a party who endeavors to Christianize Guyana,” Jeune said.
“We’re not focusing on our geology or our doctrinal emphasis. We believe that put us all together as religious bodies and there is a lot we have in common.” He stressed that the party is not “taking the church to government” but would nonetheless work as individual churches to preach against the lifestyle of the LGBTQ community and all other forms of immorality.
SEEKING THE CHURCH’S VOTE
KLM is confidently contesting all regions in Guyana and claims to have completed its List of Candidates for Nomination Day some 80 per cent. Jeune said that while a large number of the supporters within the churches are “strong” APNU supporters, he is hoping to sway their vote. “We have enough supporters, even though they are mainly from the churches. Our objective is to reach out to the churches, firstly, because that’s where most of our support we’re hoping to come from,” he said.
Although the KLM is relatively silent, the Apostle doubts that the other new parties recently formed have their act together when it comes to their list of candidates. This week the party plans to write all churches in Guyana, explaining its interest in government, with the hope that more will put their trust in the KLM. Its presidential candidate is Bishop Linden Hercules who has pastored in Guyana and Suriname. Meanwhile, the party is being supported financially by the pastors while other business persons have pledged support.
“We have already planned to go into our own pockets and at the same time to see how best we can to utilize the means [to campaign] that are not necessarily costly,” Juene said.