Panday: Don’t get into kidnapping business

A STERN warning was made yesterday by Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday against persons who might feel encouraged to resort to kidnapping and other forms of crime.  Though he did not allude to Cro Cro’s (Winston Rawlins) controversial “Face Reality” song, Panday told a group of career seekers at a seminar in Barrackpore yesterday: “Unless you want to go into the business of crime and kidnapping, the smartest way out of poverty is education.”

Panday made the comment while addressing a large gathering of young people at the formal opening of a career seminar/exhibition sponsored by the Naparima constituency. Comprising mostly secondary school students, Panday told the students assembled at the Barrackpore Islamic Centre: “The safest and the smartest way out of poverty is through education. That is unless you want to go into the business of crime and kidnapping.” The Opposition Leader urged students in attendance not to limit themselves to the CEPEP programme: “With the rampant discrimination going on now in CEPEP, you must not limit yourselves to lifting a weed wacker and pushing a barrow. You must be qualified for the jobs that are available on the market.”

Also addressing the students was Member of Parliament for Naparima Nizam Baksh, who called on students to become more equipped with marketable skills that were needed to obtain sustainable employment. Baksh urged students to become more aware of the various state and public sector agencies which offer funding for the creation of self employment. He referred  them to the effects of the closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd on the constituency of Naparima: “Naparima can be classified among the most depressed in the country. Most of the country’s cane farmers reside in the Naparima area. Naparima has a high percentage of unemployed and unskilled young people. With the closure of Caroni (1975) Ltd and the expectation that cane farmers would take up the slack, challenges are open to the Cane Farming Community of Naparima,” Baksh said. Among the agencies represented at the seminar were the University of the West Indies and the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme.