Win, win with social programmes

THE EDITOR: It is commendable that the government is trying to address the problem of unemployment with social sector programmes. This is because, while the oil and gas sector is showing strong growth, a mechanism needs to be found to deal with poverty and growing unemployment.

At the same time, a series of problems linger in the communities both rural and urban, mainly in the area of poor roads, lack of water supply, poor drainage and a decaying electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.In these social programmes, we are making the classic mistake of welfare states by paying people to do nothing, which destroys the work ethic of the entire country and breeds a generation of people who believe that the State owes them a living. I want to suggest that we link the unemployment alleviation programmes with solving infrastructure needs of the communities and thus create a win win situation for all.

We must start with detailed data collection by creating a complete database of these areas. This can be done by sending out teams of students with detailed questionnaires. For example we can take a village and find out exactly about potholed roads, poor street signs, decaying electricity poles, water supply, telephone service and drainage and then give small contracts to individuals in the areas to correct these problems with the mandate to utilise labour from the area on a rotating basis. If the government is serious about the 20/20 vision this has to be implemented as soon as possible in order to lift the standard of living of our communities.

SAT SUKDEO
Port-of- Spain