Need for a middle class Cepep

THE EDITOR: Many opinions have been voiced on the value of the PNM’s CEPEP Programme — from ardent supporters who see the results oriented programme operated by small entrepreneurs as a positive model to fervent detractors who question the aimlessness of the output and the apparent politics of the programme.

However, both parties have missed what may be quintessential weaknesses, ie (A) the programme is state-funded and may well act to further propagate the curse of dependency that afflicts the country, (B) that no new industry or sustainable job creation activity is taking place and (C) that the middle class — the backbone of developed societies — is being left out. Therefore, even a cursory analysis of the future of this programme will show that there is a need for operations that (i) do not need to be funded by the state beyond incubation, (ii) support activities that bring into being new industries, and (iii) encourages the involvement by the middle class who traditionally can harness the necessary resourse to effect long term economic changes. If ‘no one is to be left behind,’ then the Government should be actively inviting and pursuing proposals that would (a) attract the under-employed middle class, who having graduated from Form 6, University and other Tertiary Education Institutions are traditionally left to drift in the morass of youth employment, (2) target indigenous industries capable of engaging significant numbers of persons in skills based occupations, and (3) generate levels of foreign exchange consistent with that required to support internal requirements and where possible contribute to the national pool.

The advent of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, while increasing significantly the population and probable market sizes, will do virtually little or nothing to (a) reduce levels of structural employment that exists throughout the region, (b) cushion against the eventual absorption of some of our local industries on the principle of “doing less with more”, (c) take advantage of diminishing returns to identify niche markets where we can excel and (d) provide gainful employment for citizens who are outside the traditional education/lifestyle norms. Successful government initiatives are those that free individuals to pursue goals more closely akin to their liking than to simply follow the path already in existence. While most Third World nations can point to several manufacturing or trade oriented incubator programmes, there is a marked absence of service-based initiatives.It is the combination of the natural creativity of our citizens with the availability of production, marketing and investment advice that can operate to free the middle class to bring about true economic growth. In this regard, programmes like CEPEP may work for the underprivileged but achieve nothing at the level of the educated but under-employed middle-class.The next step is clear — To weather the challenges of the SME and eventually the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), we must seek to merge the concept of self help for the underprivileged with the availability of the under-employed to realise a new citizen who is truly entrepreneurial and who has the tools to make a success of business activity without the need for dependency on the state.

LOUIS R
HERNANDEZ
Diego Martin