‘MuST’ is another ‘weapon’ to fight crime

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning rebounded from Government’s failure to pass the Police Reform Bills in Parliament by unveiling another weapon which Government plans to use to combat crime in Trinidad and Tobago — the Multi-Sector Skills Training (MuST) programme. Speaking at the programme’s launch at the Hilton Trinidad yesterday, mere hours after the Bills were defeated in Parliament, the Prime Minister said MuST was designed to help persons who are unemployed, unemployable because of a lack of skills, or “physically challenged with limited opportunities for self-sufficiency. “It would be unconscionable to say the least, if we were to turn a blind eye on such groups in our society. We will do well to keep in mind that unemployment and unemployability help to breed criminal activity. “The devil,” it is said, “finds work for idle hands to do. We are emphatic that none in our society must be left behind.

We must create avenues for all elements of the entire national community to not only participate in the developmental agenda but to benefit from it. “Those who, for one reason or the other have been left out of the pail, have now to be brought and fully integrated into the national productive and developmental process,” Manning declared. Observing that democracy in TT was alive and well, particularly “over the last few days and the last few hours,” Manning said, “Democracy is also about empowering individuals by providing them with the necessary tools to live and work, and to take charge of these aspects of their life through life-long learning (a key component of MuST).”

The Prime Minister said the fact that MuST initially targetted the construction sector (training 10,000 persons) was “strategic on many levels,” particularly given the major construction exercise on which Government was embarking. Manning said this exercise would involve the refurbishment or rebuilding of a number of State buildings including “a number of police stations, particularly as we seek to strengthen the capacity and capability of the Police Service.” He said MuST graduates will also be able to access an estimated 1,000 jobs during the two-year construction of a US$100 million aluminum smelter in La Brea and additional employment opportunities during the expansion of the Atlantic LNG plant which will be completed in December 2005.