Laventille can handle its own problems

THE EDITOR: I would like to express and convey best wishes to the board and members of the Morvant/Laventille Improvement Organisation (MLIO) for the very bold and positive step they have taken in resuscitating their community-based training programme in the overall interest of Laventille and environs. While most of us concede that this effort is a Government responsibility, we can only be overwhelmingly grateful that the community has once again assumed the leading role in the fight against the manifold social and economic decadence that has beset our beloved Laventille.

The government believes in talking about social relief while making Laventille a veritable garrison for police and soldiers. A situation which does not make the average resident feel any safer than before. Laventille has the talent and ingenuity to address its own problems; how else could we have survived this long? Our apparent impotence started when smart-man politicians from both the PNM and the UNC started to interfere with the delicate balance of “good and evil”, which we managed on our own since Independence. The PNM refused to fund genuine community-derived social intervention programmes in any meaningful way, while the UNC tried to disrupt the community by placing state resources in the hands of persons traditionally living on the fringes in Laventille. A policy that was continued by the current PNM Government with devastating consequences.

ALFRED GEORGE
Laventille