Carenage youths call for permanent jobs

“Because they know yuh coming today, they scatter all dem WASA men all bout de place today,” the group of young fellas told the Prime Minister as he toured Carenage. But burst pipes had been left “unheeded” over the years. And part of the reason was the “set of old men” that WASA was hiring, the youths complained. The tour to the PNM stronghold had threatened to get unpleasant at the start as the youths, led by Christopher Calder, felt that they were being denied an opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister, who was only being crowded by party supporters. “Boss they just want to show you what nice. They just bring yuh here boss, to walk. Come see what going on in here, boss. Mr Manning please!” Calder wailed as the Manning party ignored his request to visit Moya Trace. But Calder and his team were determined and they began following the tour party, grumbling so loudly that  eventually they got the ears of the Prime Minister.

“I ain’ making no noise, boss. Is just a little hearing we want,” Calder started almost apologetically. The problem was bad roads and poor drainage at Moya Trace, and the savannah needed to be upgraded. “If yuh want to reduce crime yuh have to have a place for people to recreate,” Calder said. “We are aware of it,” Manning replied. Calder also wanted Manning to pay attention to the market. He said he was a fisherman and the reason he stopped selling was because there were no cold storage facilities. “Trust meh boss, I telling the truth,” he said, pleading:  “Doh let meh words fall on deaf ears.” “We youth, we strong. We ain want to get mix up in no crime. Permanent jobs, boss. That ten-days ting ent making no sense. We want two (URP) gangs that permanent,” another member of the group asserted.

Rowley intervened to ask which one of the young, strong men was willing to go back to the youth camp to learn a trade. “I willing, I willing” they chorused. Though one member stated:  “I will send my children. I am thirty-one years, I can’t go to no youth camp.” Rowley said that because of the nature of the constituency, as fast as one problem was fixed others came to the fore. The main problem here was unemployment opportunities because there wasn’t much for people to do “on the side,” he noted. But as he walked with Manning, Rowley urged his constituents to tell the Prime Minister their problems. “ Doh wait till he gone and then come and tell me, yuh know. Tell him what the problem is,” he stated. On statements by Laventille MP, Fitzgerald Hinds to invite him to Laventille West, Manning said there were invitations from all 36 constituencies for him to visit and he planned to go to all constituencies “which we consider appropriate” in due course.