Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Official Report 1016KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and the Holyrood campus.

The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Ronald Matandakufa, minister, Kirk of the Holy Rood, Grangemouth.

Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you very much for the opportunity to address you today.

Sometimes, the world feels dark and cold. There is a lot of pain and suffering caused by poverty, hunger, climate change, war, terrorism and discrimination—the list is endless. I wonder why the world is like that. Do we lack enough resources to alleviate poverty? Perhaps we need more mass demonstrations against discrimination, or perhaps we require more weapons of mass destruction to make war impossible. The question still remains: what do we really need to make the world a better and brighter place for all?

My experience as a church leader in first and third world countries has made me realise that what the world really needs is leadership. Leadership has been defined by different people in many ways, but it is commonly agreed that it is more than a position of authority or a job title. I would say that leadership is the ability to see what could be, despite what is, and to journey with others in making that a reality. Therefore, a leader is someone who can imagine an alternative reality—someone who can see a possible world that could be, regardless of what is. A leader is someone who acts in the present, together with others, to ensure that the future brings about a new reality that is better and brighter than what is.

I have come to conclude that the difference between a thriving nation and a collapsing nation is not economic aid; it is leadership. The difference between a progressing community and a degenerating community is not mass demonstrations against forms of discrimination; it is leadership. The difference between a growing organisation and a declining organisation is not the unwillingness to change; it is leadership.

Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, I believe that the world and our communities and organisations need leadership to realise a better and brighter future for all. I have no doubt that, without leadership, the world will remain dark and cold.

As you deliberate on national issues, the task before you is to imagine what could be, despite what is, and to journey with the Scottish people towards the realisation of a better Scotland for all. In other words, the task that you have is to provide the people of Scotland with leadership. I pray to God that you do so with courage.

Ndatenda. Thank you.