By Invera Arjoon Wednesday, March 10 2010

President of the South Chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International, Ramesh Bhola, is calling Reverend Juliana Pena to come forward and tell the public the truth about her relationship with Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the construction of her multi-million dollar church in the Heights of Guanapo.

“From an organisational point of view we must be able to hear at some time, hopefully pretty soon, the truth and the relationship there is between her and our Prime Minister,” Bhola told Newsday at Paria Suites, La Romaine on Monday evening.

Bhola said like the rest of the country his organisation has been hearing a lot about a person “we know very little about”.

Pena is said to be the spiritual adviser of Manning and is building the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ on State lands using Chinese contractor Shanghai Construction Group which has also built Manning’s official residence in St Ann’s and the National Academy of the Performing Arts in Port-of-Spain.

Bhola does not know Pena and has never been to the site of the church although based on photographs in newspapers and on television he describes the church as “a lovely sight and a great venue” and believes it would be best used to serve the people.

“I am still not sure what sector of the community it’s going to serve...maybe they will have a soup kitchen, housing for the needy or feeding for the poor and that will be for the greater good for Trinidad and Tobago,” he told Newsday.

Although he wants to know more about the church, Bhola believes it wise to wait and hear from those who are involved since “right now there is so much speculation and we can say so many things. Our prayer is that whatever is done is done for the greater good of the country.”

In a statement on Church/State relations in Parliament on February 27, Manning said the Full Gospel movement was being persecuted and it was time for born-again Christians to “stop accepting the denigration of their faith”.

Bhola says this is Manning’s personal view.

“We cannot see that from where we sit at all. We are free and we are privileged to be in a nation such as ours, where we can practise our faith freely and we can live amongst all other creeds and races in harmony.”

Bhola said his organisation spends a lot of time praying for Manning, that he will stand up for “love, kindness and truth”. “That’s what Christians should do, love above all, he (Manning) has publicly said he is a Christian and he should show that.”

While Manning has publicly said he plans to become a pastor after he retires from politics, Bhola believes the Prime Minister “has the best pulpit right now, where he can display the true attributes as a Christian and he will have the greatest congregation following him.”

Bhola also prays for San Fernando Mayor Kenneth Ferguson, and did so on Monday during a dinner and service for a visiting group of six Christian businessmen from Nigeria, which the Mayor attended. Ferguson and Nigerian High Commissioner Musa John Jen, who was also a guest, both accepted membership into the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International.