We are not on the road to Vision 2020

THE EDITOR: It is Friday morning and the headline ‘four young people kidnapped’ has shaken the entire country. The fact that we now have 112 kidnap victims for the year is alarming. We have lost control of crime. What are we doing? Where is this country going? Let me state categorically to this government "We are not on the road for Vision 2020."

Firstly, so many of our youths were brought up with a lack of social and moral values and were denied employment opportunities over the last couple of years, as a result crime became a “means to an end!” While our present administration has in fact inherited this problem, the responsibility falls on them now to correct it before it is too late! If the police service cannot manage itself, then you to it! You have given them mobility, now they need intelligence information and of course the ability to decipher it. The means to obtain this intelligence information has been sitting on the tarmac during the previous and present administrations. I do not know the facts, but I am told that maintenance and training costs are not borne by our government. The UNC may have had its reasons to hiccup the whole intelligence initiative, but with an urgent need now for this arm to be fully up and running, all you hear is talk from various people in authority but no action. What is the PNM's excuse? With human resources available in the country (some after being laid off and some newcomers in possession of valid licences) needing new opportunities and work, why the consistent delay in implementing a proper model that can assist in achieving the ultimate goal. Under its present makeup, where we are employing people who already have jobs and are committed to another employer, the reality is the ultimate goals that have been set cannot be achieved!

I must agree with Mr Mouttet from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce "enough is enough." People from my age group are leaving this country in droves, mostly because of a lack of good opportunities. A word of caution, be careful we  reach 2020 and then find ourselves without local skills. Secondly, to stray a bit from my main topic, I have written in the past and implied that this government needs to move this country from its dependency on natural gas/oil. While I am the first to congratulate this PNM government for all its continued push to develop the oil and hydrocarbon sector, what about the other industries, for example tourism. While BWEE needs help financially, it also needs assistance in promoting itself. Are we really, I mean really advertising as we should internationally?  My final point is just to ask if anyone in the Ministry of Works and Transport is aware that the highway construction where the Atlantic LNG protestors are situated still needs to be finished. It has gone on too long without any changes being made and what has been left is a disaster. For god sakes, do something!

J D MILLER
Port-of-Spain