The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Citizen Security Programme (CSP) saw thirty-three youths in the Port Mourant, Corentyne area graduate last evening and Minister Clement Rohee pointed to the need for opportunities for them.
The Youth Life Skills/Vocational Training Programme Batch 3 received their certificates of competency from Rohee at the Port Mourant Community Centre Ground.
The batch graduated in various disciplines including combating domestic violence, electrical installation, computing and cake decoration among others. During the graduation, there was also a presentation to various youths by the Violence Prevention Consultants, Community Action Officer and graduates.
Port Mourant Community Action Officer, Ouditnarine Tejpratap, asked how the new skills gained by the young people can help to make them better citizens of Guyana and curb crime, “and I said, when we do that, we get their idle minds restored…and I thank the Government of Guyana for having a plan for our youths and the plan was not for them to continue the trend of some of the things that are happening to our youths”. Tejpratap said that “we are sending out people with the basic skills and tools in their hands to blaze new trails”.
Community Action Specialist of the CSP, Roseanne Purnwasie praised the potential of the graduands. “It will be a difficult role— having a career is very challenging— no one could ever make you feel inferior without your consent— that is something I really want you to remember”. She charged everyone present to continue “the wonderful transformation that has been happening in Port Mourant”.
The Guest Speaker, Director of the University of Guyana Berbice Campus, Professor Daizal R. Samad praised the CSP since he said that it creates a civic society. He noted that the real beneficiary of this programme is the broader community. “If leaders are cultivated from amongst the young, then our future as a nation is assured. If skills are imparted, the lives of all are improved. If a safer community is ensured, then people may sleep and work in peace”.
He said that when he hears of crimes against the law- abiding citizens of this country— in Berbice, “where there has been an upsurge in criminal activity— there is a sense of hopelessness, a sense of despair”. He mentioned the various law enforcement agencies who are tasked with protecting the nation “and if they let us down or let themselves down, then we are almost lost…that is why they are so important and my hope is that they come to realise just how vital they are to all of us”.
Training and education for the law enforcement agencies, he posited, are essential, and he said that he has been doing his bit at his campus, “for two and a half years now since I was asked to be Director of UGBC, I have given freely in terms of training for the Guyana Police Force, the Community Policing Groups and Neighbourhood Police…such giving involved using our human capital at UGBC, our physical plant, our computers facilities and our financial resources…this is not cheap, but we give anyway”.
He insisted that it is very important for citizens not to leave making communities safe up to the police alone but all should play their roles. “Each time a law enforcement official is lax in executing his or her duty, we are all the losers. We become a nation of losers. And any law enforcement officer that is corrupt or incompetent tarnishes this nation and any time there is incompetence…we all lose…men and women become damaged and families become broken and battered”.
In delivering the charge to the graduands, Rohee, said that the challenge that faces the leadership level of government, “having so many young people to have graduated from these programmes, the question is, what next?” Rohee asked how do we sustain a programme “that has brought so much hope, profits, faith and confidence in the future— how do we maintain the momentum and provide the comfort level to so many young people who want to do something with their lives, who have stepped forward and wanting to do something with their lives and have done so within the meaning of the CSP Community Action Component?”
Rohee said that the responsibility lies within the citizenry and private sector “to open up the pathways and roads so that these persons, the young people graduating today, are able to see and grasp and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves, because it makes no sense to have these programmes organised and graduation exercises, if we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel”, which he said is the light of prosperity and light of sustainable livelihoods. He noted the government’s responsibility in that regard.
He said that the CSP has transformed a number of young people and “we cannot leave them just hanging like that…we have to work to open up opportunities to provide them with a sustainable livelihood”.
Rohee stated that he was pleased that the programme not only imparted skills training to the participants but also violence- prevention skills and subsidiary programmes “so that at the end of these training sessions, we develop a rounded individual”.
The CSP operates in Regions 4 and 6 and trains young people within various communities, especially out-of-schoolers and school drop-outs with vocational and technical skills, providing them with a base skill so that they can apply for jobs and further their training.
