Members of the Haile Selassie I Theocracy Reign Ivine Order of Nyahbinghi said after a successful meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo they now plan to apply for legal documentation to build their secretariat and tabernacle.

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, I-elect of Treasury Ras Binghi Trug Ras Addis Asher and five other members sought the President’s intervention in obtaining permission to construct the buildings and to inform him about their awareness programme. The meeting was held at State House.

Jagdeo committed to providing support for the lighting project for the tabernacle in the Linden Central Tabernacle ground and assured the group that land will be made available to establish its secretariat in Georgetown. “This (the Secretariat) is very important to us building our community and social life,” the treasurer said.

The group said its awareness programme will target an audience of law enforcement agencies, schools, private and public sectors and all religious and cultural groups as it hopes to foster mutual trust and confidence from the government and wider society towards the Rastafari community in Guyana. It said too it hopes to contribute to the boosting of youth’s self-confidence.

GINA said the group also used the occasion to distance itself from the comments one of its members made regarding the failed ganja march on Monday. It said it disagrees with what it considers “prejudicial utterances expressed by Vice President of the Guyana Rastafari Council Ras Simeon Selassie last Tuesday at the Square of the Revolution. It noted that though the proposal for a march was brought to the Rastafari community, it was never given unanimous approval by the elders. “The attempt to stage a march was purely from an individualistic perspective,” the group said, adding that it regretted any ill feelings that it may have caused.