PM Appeals to Young People to Seize Training and Employment Opportunities

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is once again appealing to young people to seize the training and employment opportunities available in the country to build a productive and meaningful future, and to reject the path of crime.

He made the call while addressing the opening ceremony for the US$50-million MJS Industrial and Technology Park, located at the old Ariguanabo textile factory site in St. Catherine, on June 24.

“The same criminals who are involved in scamming and extortion and being the footmen of gangs, the same criminals can be rehabilitated, and they can come to work right here, they can come to work in the call centres; they can become the data scientists; they can become the people who are manning all the machinery and equipment in the bakery,” he said.

“The truth is, we need their labour, we need them and, therefore, our policy is clear, and I’m now speaking to our young men and young women of Spanish Town, HEART Trust training is free, go and get a skill, make that decision, put down the gun, put down the violence and say, ‘I’m going to HEART’. If you are just leaving school, we have a programme called the CARE (Community Action for Rewarding Engagement) programme,” he said.

CARE focuses on empowering young people who are not in education, employment or training.

He urged them to choose the right path and make the best of the opportunities that are being provided.

“If you didn’t get enough CXCs, we will support you to go and get training. We will give you a stipend, bus fare and lunch money to get you into these programmes. Our path is clear… . Choose the right path, there will be a job for you; you’re not going to get the big pay right away, but work with the programme – every year it gets better; or go the wrong path and deal with a judge or greet your maker,” Dr. Holness said.

Meanwhile, he said the Government remains resolute in investing in the country’s national security infrastructure and reducing crime.

“The less than a thousand criminals who make Jamaica be perceived as unsafe can be easily addressed and they have been largely addressed, and we will not relent in ensuring those less than a thousand people do not prevent the three million people who either are Jamaicans or people working and living here achieve their dreams and aspirations for self-fulfilment,” he said.

“I cannot be clearer about our strategy. Jamaica will attain peace as we have had peace in our country up to the 1960s when our murder rate was the equivalent of that of the United States, less than three per 100,000. We will get back to that, and we will get back to that within this decade,” he said.