Team meets Tuesday over Morvant protests

Anthony Watkins. -
Anthony Watkins. -

THE expert team formed to examine social unrest in certain communities after recent protests against the killing of three men in Morvant will meet on Tuesday, team leader Anthony Watkins told Newsday on Monday.

The Prime Minister last Thursday said the Community Recovery Programme team was being set up to examine the causes of disquiet and dissatisfaction in disenfranchised communities.

Watkins told Newsday, “We will be meeting tomorrow (Tuesday.) We’ll be receiving the formal terms of reference tomorrow.

“We’ll be talking through those and really in a sense determining how do the skills on the team match up with the terms of reference, do we need to co-opt anybody else with additional experiences and perspectives, and that kind of thing.

“On the basis of that we will map what a preliminary schedule will be. But in terms of what we are going to be doing next, that will have to come out of seeing the terms of reference and the timeline and the plans that we get.”

Newsday asked if the team will review literature and/or hold public hearings.

Watkins replied, “If someone is driving a car, the windscreen is in front of them and there is a rear-view mirror. There is a lesson in the size of the windscreen to the rear-view mirror. The rear-view mirror tells us how much time we need to spend looking backwards in terms of its size, and the windscreen tells us how much time we should spend looking forward.

“To drive a car without a rear-view mirror is an extremely uncomfortable experience. You need to be able to glance into the past but you don’t want to spend all your time looking there. You’ve got to bring your eyes back to the road and look a few hundred yards ahead.

“So we will be looking back but do not want to be imprisoned by the thinking of the past, although we respect it and know there is value in it.”

Watkins is a consultant and expert in social pathology, mental health, correctional services, and psychiatric forensic assessment.

The other team members are broadcaster Hans des Vignes, motivational speaker Curtis Toussaint, Community Development Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Children's Authority director Nichola Harvey-Mitchell, gender specialist Akosua Edwards and former national football coach Jamaal Shabazz.

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"Team meets Tuesday over Morvant protests"

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