LOCAL CHURCH leaders yesterday demanded an immediate roll-back of the recent tax hikes on fuel and insisted that this should precede any committee discussion on the matter. Roman Catholic priest Father Richard HoLung, head of the multi-denominational group Christian Unity for Peace and Justice which met in Kingston and presented a petition to be forwarded to Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, spelt out the message:

"Right now! Not tomorrow! Not after a committee has met, now! There must be a roll-back (and) I am talking about a full roll-back," he told some 400 Christians, representing almost all the local denominations, who met at Liguanea Park yesterday.

The priest, whose colleagues said that the media mistook the meeting for a planned march, warned that the voice of the Church should not be underestimated.

"The Church is a sleeping giant. If the whole Church was to come together, we would be 90 per cent of the country," said Father HoLung, adding that yesterday's event was "just the beginning."

While admitting that the Church was "a bit late" in getting its act together in support of "the people's cause", Father HoLung said the Government needed to be brought back to the reality of the times and be made to "admit they made a mistake".

The church leaders called for a cut in the salaries of Government Ministers, a move which he said could signal a real possibility of bringing the Government and people back into an effective partnership.

Major expenditures

He questioned major expenditures to upgrade the Office of the Prime Minister and the Finance Ministry and insisted that the public needed to know why these were considered necessary when there was so much suffering in the country.

Father Gregory Ramkissoon of the Mustard Seed Community outlined the Church's demands.

"The bottom line is a roll-back in the hiked gas price. Also, we want further and continued dialogue with the Government so that this kind of crisis and the continued poverty may be alleviated in stages in the future," he said.

"We are also calling for cuts in the Ministers' salaries and perks and a downsizing of the Government. On top of that, we are also calling for the Orane report to be immediately looked into and, where possible, implemented."

He said the church group was impressed "with the basic tenets of the Orane proposals, especially in relation to savings and the downsizing" of some arms of Government.

At pains to disassociate the group from politics, Father Ramkissoon said problems associated with suffering from poverty was becoming everybody's problem in Jamaica. "One part of Kingston cannot live a certain way and other parts another way ... There are people who are frying the fat of chickens to get protein," he said.

Kathlyn Brodber, a Christian mother and teacher who spoke on behalf of women, declared that just like how she grew her children to make sacrifices, she accepted that national sacrifices were necessary. However, she said this must come with dialogue and understanding.

"We are not willing to suffer the burden (of any measure) without knowing why," she said.