Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

La Brea MP Fitzger­ald Jef­frey has called on the Gov­ern­ment to boost cul­tur­al tourism in the south-west­ern penin­su­la as a means of com­bat­ing crime, un­em­ploy­ment and de­pres­sion. He was speak­ing at the Na­tion­al En­er­gy Cor­po­ra­tion's Sec­ondary Schools Ca­lyp­so Com­pe­ti­tion, held at the Point Fortin Town Hall yes­ter­day.

Jef­frey pre­dict­ed that the high crime lev­el wit­nessed in Laven­tille could ger­mi­nate in the south-west­ern re­gions. "We have too much de­pres­sion and un­em­ploy­ment...It is hard for a child to fin­ish school and get no job," Jef­frey said. He said Point Fortin was rich in cul­tur­al tra­di­tion, but not enough was be­ing done to in­vest in youth tal­ent.

Jef­frey said the high lev­el of un­em­ploy­ment was caus­ing young peo­ple to leave the re­gion. He said youths must be­gin to be­lieve in them­selves and be proud of the rich lega­cy of the south-west­ern penin­su­la. "We have to stand tall and make your­self proud. Self-be­lief is a prob­lem; we don't be­lieve in our­selves, even though we have a rich his­to­ry," Jef­frey said.

Mean­while, Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon al­so laud­ed the par­tic­i­pants for their con­tri­bu­tions. She called on more pri­vate-sec­tor com­pa­nies to fol­low NEC and sup­port youth tal­ent. May­or Clyde Paul said Point Fortin was the cul­ture cap­i­tal of the coun­try.

"We need to have more in­vest­ment in our peo­ple," Paul said. Stu­dents from sev­er­al schools, in­clud­ing Fyz­abad An­gli­can, Ves­signy Gov­ern­ment Sec­ondary, Iere High School, Point Fortin Sec­ondary, Ce­dros Com­pos­ite and Fyz­abad Com­pos­ite, took part in the com­pe­ti­tion.