Job recruitment at St Paul Street today

A massive recruitment exercise is expected to take place today at the St Paul Street Community Centre, Port-of-Spain, as National Security Minister Jack Warner has promised jobs for residents and those of neighbouring areas, including rival communities of Laventille.

Once employed, people would be sent out of their respective communities to work in other communities, including areas where there were turf wars. Warner made the announcement at a town meeting at the centre last night.

He added: “We will be meeting the residents of Nelson, Duncan and George Streets and the St Paul area to look at the skills they have, the skills they don’t have, as well as the skills they should have, to provide for them some kind of job situation where they could be gainfully employed and whereby they could use their talents and resources to help build their communities.

“This programme has the full blessing of the police, army and the National Security Ministry.” The programme would be led by the Engineering Battalion of the Defence Force, he added. The National Security Minister made it clear that “no gangs” would be employed.

He said: “In fact, we would not be calling them gangs anymore. We would be calling them team members. They will come to St Paul Street and sit down with the army and tell us what you can do and we will begin to organise where your works is, and for how much and begin on Monday.”

Anyone, however, charged by the police would be booted out of the programme, he said. Saying the initiative was aimed at turning around the lives of people Warner also warned no one would be taxed on their earnings.

“Nobody here is coming to tax anybody on their money. The project manager shall be the Defence Force, the people who manage the jobs shall be the Defence Force…so this URP gang, this CEPEP gang in this area, that is finished,” Warner said.

A national consultation on crime also is expected to take place next January to pave the way for future initiates, the National Security Minister added. “Everybody in this country has the solution for crime in this country. We will therefore have one maco consultation, bring everybody, talk to the police, army…because not for one moment you must believe we have all the answers,” Warner added.

He said it was significant that the consultation would begin at the start of the next year so as to examine previous anti-crime plans and determine how best to move forward. “At the end of my term I would like to see all families, especially the African families, understand that the future of the country and the future of families must never be by the barrel of a gun,” Warner added.