Ashworth slams THA’s YES programme, saying TOP only hope for Tobago

Leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) Ashworth Jack has slammed the Youth Energised for Success (YES) Programme recently launched by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). Speaking at a political meeting at Calder Hall on Sunday, Jack said the YES programme was another apprenticeship programme in which young people would be underpaid. He compared it to the On the Job Training (OJT) programme. “It has one fella about 130 years old, he is making money in United States dollars, and I have no problem if it is a skill you can’t find anywhere else, but it is not a skill that you can’t find anywhere else. “And there are young people, they are giving them a little $4,000, throwing them in an OJT, yet in 2012 you hear them boasting that they started YES. And guess what, YES is another apprenticeship programme that is paying people less than what they deserve, a whole lot less,” the THA minority leader said. He said the TOP was the only alternative to save the youths of Tobago and that help was on the way.

 

He promised well-paid jobs for the young people of Tobago and noted that they would be in a better position to be productive and help themselves, their families and Tobago. Jack also urged supporters to put their political differences aside and bind together for the betterment of Tobago: “There is enough room for every person who resides in this island and if we want to build Tobago we have to get everyone on board, band together, forget our political differences and build Tobago. “We will have to take those young people who have qualified themselves and have come home and can’t get a job because them boys put their old partner in the position so the young ones cannot get the work. We have to bring them home and give them a job regardless of their political affiliation and build Tobago,” he said. The YES programme was a highlight of the THA's 2012/2013 budget presentation. It involves investment, streamlining and certification of youth in diverse fields, with the intent of preparing young Tobagonians for leadership. It also seeks to enhance the innovative capacity and competencies of Tobago's youth in the direction of business development and economic diversification, and preserving and sustaining investment in education and enterprise development. The programme was also touted as fostering strategic partnerships with local, regional and international organisations to enable training and knowledge-transfer and to expose Tobago's young graduates to the institutions to fine-tune their skills.