South East St. Ann MP puts Forward Proposals to Involve Young People in the Economy

Member of Parliament for St. Ann South Eastern, Lisa Hanna, has put forward several proposals to get youths more involved in the economy, including providing incentives for young graduates to enter certain industries.
“The Government needs to offer specific incentives to direct the graduate towards export-driven industries, and all nationally-funded programmes should be directed to achieve this objective,” she stated yesterday (July 29) in her contribution to the 2009/10 Sectoral Debate in Parliament.
According to Miss Hanna, Jamaica’s young people have tremendous talent in the areas of sports, entertainment and the use of technology and should be engaged in those areas.
“Sports can be a major employment generator aimed at developing discipline, responsibility and wealth within our youth,” she argued.
She said that youths could also be engaged in providing sports content, such as the Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, Manning Cup games, and Premier League matches, via the Internet, to alumni of Jamaican schools and others in the Diaspora.
Miss Hanna applauded the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (YEP), introduced by the Government, which will provide entrepreneurial opportunities for high schools and tertiary level graduates.
She said that it was commendable that youths were being directed into areas such as ornamental fish farming, apiculture and agro-processing and suggested that web and graphic design, and incubators for e-services, could be added to the programme.
Regarding matters in her constituency, Miss Hanna informed that several targets were achieved in the areas of infrastructure and development, agriculture, sports, education, and youth training.
Among the projects, which were facilitated through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) are: upgrading of the Claremont market; introduction of the Claremont transportation centre; and provision of facilities to provide more than 700 residents with increased access to water.
Additionally, Miss Hanna said that arrangement was made for farmers to lease lands for crops, while sponsorship was provided for several youth teams in the constituency.
“We will continue to build on this fine tradition, not only in these areas, but we will continue to improve the areas in terms of recreation for our youth, training and talent development and education for our young people,” she pledged.