Education Minister: I have confidence in Hinds

St Ann’s East MP Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said she has full confidence in National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds as he has assisted the Education Ministry with working with students.

She was speaking in Parliament on Friday during debate on the no-confidence motion brought against National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds by Opposition MP Saddam Hosein. This was the third day of the debate.

Gadsby-Dolly said when children returned to school after covid19, and were interacting in ways that society and the ministry were not accustomed to, she reached out to Hinds.

“His response assured me that we would receive assistance, and into our discussions came the police service, because he understood and believed that crime fighting starts in schools. We have our community police in our schools helping us because of his assistance, as well as helping us with truant children.”

She said Hinds ensured that police youth clubs became involved in mentorship in schools, where there were needed.

“We have children parenting themselves, they don’t know what it is to have a father figure speaking to them, the have no-one to feed and clothe them, and wrote to the minister for police to be involved in a mentorship programme, and they have done so, we need them, that’s the reason I have confidence in him.”

La Horquetta/Talparo MP Foster Cummings said the youth population is one third population of TT. He said statistics showed that many fall prey to crime, gang recruitment, and youth delinquency.

“Crime fighting does not always fall at the extreme end of the spectrum with detections, arrests and convictions. The programmes by the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service are about creating a safe space for developing young people who are active citizens of the country. They are designed to combat a number of the social deficiencies in our society, to steer young people away from a life of crime, to provide them with the opportunities to skill themselves, upgrade their technical learning, and be productive citizens of TT.”

Cummings said the ministry has put significant emphasis on the agricultural sector, including the youth agricultural homestead programme. He said he had been approached by the police service’s victim and witness protection unit to partner with the ministry on this programme.

“This letter demonstrates unequivocally that the approach to fighting crime must be multi-pronged and inter-disciplinary. In the letter, the writer said ‘this unit is seeking to partner with your ministry on the youth agricultural homestead programme. Given the ranges of vulnerabilities facing our clients, we are requesting your kind consideration towards 15 per cent of the placement of the YAHP be assigned to young people impacted by crime. A placement in this social project will certainly have far-reaching consequences towards changing the trajectory of our young people who have become vulnerable to crime.’”

He said the ministry has agreed to these terms and would be allocating some spaces in the next cohort in the programme.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said citizens were feeling hopeless because of the incompetence of Hinds in managing his ministry.

He said the ministry needs to give resources to the arms of the services which his ministry governs.

“Government needs political will to give the Police Service Commission to fill the vacancies in the service. They need to give them the proper vehicles and resources. The fire services needs to have proper vehicles; there is not a functioning hazmat tender at the Savonetta and Couva fire stations.

“We need to focus on provision of adequate lifeguard services, as government is responsible to look out for people at beaches. They need to ensure that lifeguard stations have necessary apparatus, jet skis, dinghy’s, and ambulances.”

Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally said the continuing violence against women and girls was due to the incompetence of the minister. He quoted statistics from the Crime and Problem Analysis unit of the police service and prepared by the Central Statistical Office.

“In 2017, there were 496 murders, 52 of which were women. In 2018, there were 518 murders and 47 female victims. In 2019, there were 539 murders and 64 female victims. In 2020, there were 399 murders of which 54 were women, and in 2021 there were 448 murders of which 33 were women. For 2022, there had been 623 murders, 57 of which were women. This represented an estimated 9.46 per cent of total deaths.”

He said it was not a generic statement to say that crime was on the rise but also that there is an associated increase in crime against women and children in the society.

“People want an abandonment of the political rhetoric with which the minister deals with the increases in crime. They want meaningful change in how we implement laws, policies being formulated, reflected in legislation and proper implementation by the arms the legislation governs. They want to see changes in policing.”

Rambally said what he hoped to hear from government during the debate was an analysis of how the criminal justice system is failing women and girls.

“What needs to be the starting change to address this issue is the removal of the member for Laventille West. The deaths of young children and women will continue to stain our national conscience, so if he has a conscience, he would resign his position.”