Wayne Munroe
~ Munroe says programme will help address worrying crime rate ~
NASSAU, The Bahamas--On Sunday, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said government is making plans for a national youth service to target young people who are not in school and not working, all in an effort to reduce the level of violent crime in the country.
Police reported that a man was murdered on Saturday and four others injured in separate shootings in New Providence between Friday and Saturday. The victims ranged in age from 18 to 24.
Munroe said the people doing the killing in the country are between 15 and 25.
“Bahamian Psychiatrist Dr. David Allen and people are seeking to look and categorise what has happened with these young people of this age,” Munroe said.
“You know, he tracked the cocaine epidemic as the cause for a certain era of crime in The Bahamas. Now, we have to look at what accounts for this. As you say, it is remarkable that it’s from about 15 to 25, that decade.”
The minister said government is trying to find ways to help young people, including intervention methods such as the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Rangers.
“We are also going to be looking to model, not exactly on the youth guard, but a national youth service for young people who are, for want of a better word, as the English would say, at a loose end – not in school, not working,” he said.
“This has to do with how people are raised. It’s kind of difficult to change it once it’s set in. You have to bend the tree when it’s young. Our National Youth Development Office of the defense force has been asked to come up with a concept proposal for us as to how it would work, what agencies will be involved, then, of course, you need budgetary modelling as to how you are going to fund it.
“For instance, let’s say you are going to engage with 20,000 young, unemployed people, you will unlikely be able to do that all at once. In the first instance, how you will stage it is the proposal they will come up with.”
Munroe said he has already received a first draft of the plan.
“Something like this you have to discuss first because that is quite an imposition that you would want to have community and country buy-in,” he said.
Munroe said with so many young people falling into trouble, it is up to the community to intervene.
“We have to start taking responsibility for our children,” he said.
In government’s 2023 speech from the throne, it outlined plans for a National Service Bill “that will invite our young citizens to register for national service”.
“The participants of this programme will serve the needs of our vulnerable communities throughout The Bahamas,” it said. ~ The Nassau Guardian ~
