Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Aug 17:01

Cummings: People must demand government reinstate youth programmes

OPPOSITION SENATOR Foster Cummings is calling on parents and young people to demand the government reinstate the programmes geared towards training young people, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Youth Agricultural Homestead Programme (YAHP). Cummings made the call while speaking to the media after signing the condolence book for the late independent senator Deoroop Teemal at the Red House, Port of Spain, on August 4. “Why would you stop all the youth development programmes that were designed to train and equip our young people and provide them with the ability to attract better jobs or enable self-employment? “We made a very deliberate attempt to put things in place to occupy, train and develop our young people, in particular our agricultural programmes. I can tell you now that all the staff from those programmes, the Youth Development and National Service Ministry, including the YAHP, the Youth Shadehouse Programme, the Aquaculture Programme and the Community Shadehouse Programme, approximately 40-50 people have been sent home. So, all of those programmes are on stall.” With respect to the CCC, he said in January, the then-government had put a committee in place to review the operation of the programmes, and another to review a specific incident of staff misconduct. “There was never any plan or intention to stop the programmes, and they were not stopped. What took place was that the intake which was supposed to happen in January was delayed for a few months. All the processes were already completed for that intake to come in. Both reports had been submitted and all the government had to do was activate the intake, instead of terminating staff and dismantling and disrupting the programme.” He said the PNM had studied the issue of how to deal with young people extensively. “We have a youth policy that was designed to assist us in treating with the neat category of young people, those who are not employed, not in formal training, not in any particular educational programme, who are very susceptible to being recruited by gang members and people who want to direct them into lives of crime and we were able to touch the lives of thousands of young people and therefore it is unfortunate that we are in this situation.” He asked why the government would stop the Cepep, URP and reforestation programmes. “They absorb so many people who have to tend to their families. The country is at a state where not four months after the government came into office, almost 50,000 people are on the breadline. What’s worse, poor people in this country who depend on this government-assisted programmes to take care of themselves and their families, they are referred to as mere “grass-cutters”. It is a sad state for TT. You just need to look at the overgrown communities, mosquitoes, all sorts of pests affecting the lives of people and ask ourselves, what really is the government’s plan?” Cummings expressed concerns about statements made by Defence Minister Wayne Sturge regarding proposed stand your ground laws. “When you consider that on top of all of that, you have the minister saying that if a police officer shows up by your door, and you’re not sure he’s a police officer, shoot him. Kill first, ask questions after, we’re in a very bad state in this country.” Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles also said she was concerned about Sturge’s statements. “If you go and look at the US states that have implemented that legislation, you will see they are saying, in terms of the expectations, it has not resulted in what they expected. In other words, we have developed a situation where people just feel that for any situation, you are going to shoot. “We are a small society, just 1.4 million people. We are not saying you don’t have crime. We’re not saying that situations like this don’t call for harsher measures, but harsher measures means everybody. I made it very clear in my contribution that we are not good at detection, our detection rate is poor, our conviction rate is poor. Beckles said the solution to addressing crime needed to be addressed beyond a state of emergency and aggressive gun laws. “We know that people are afraid of coming forward, of giving information, providing evidence, people are afraid. We also know that a number of the cases are simply taking very long. Most of the time you see a matter taking 20 years, even longer than that. “We understand the impact, the travel advisories. I just came back from the US attending a conference speaking about climate change and every single person who has any association with Trinidad and Tobago, they are expressing fear about coming home, because they are reading what is happening in the newspapers and the fear is there. “So how do we address those issues and give a certain level of comfort to the population, that as government and opposition, that we are prepared to work together in the interests of the country so this crime situation could be addressed.” The post Cummings: People must demand government reinstate youth programmes appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.