Friday, July 31, 2009

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A heart-wrenching story Mary Rolle's story is a heart-wrenching one. Certainly, if Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham read the article in Monday's Nassau Guardian about the position Rolle now finds herself in as a result of his government's ill-advised decision to drastically cut funding for the National Youth Service Program that was based in North Andros, he would take immediate steps to restore full funding for that program. According to The Guardian's article, the 42-year-old mother of five said the closure of the program left her feeling like a "motherless child." For the past three years, Rolle had worked as the assistant cook and kitchen help at the facility, but on Friday she received her last pay check as a result of the government's decision to cut funding for the program by 60 percent and relocate it from North Andros to New Providence. Noting that it is doubtful that she will be able to find another job anytime soon, given the depressed economic conditions in Andros, Rolle was quoted as saying: "Knowing that I already put out three years there, and I have five children and one grand, I don't know how I will make this. My husband left nine years ago and I don't have any other means of help. So it really will affect me." What's more, according to The Guardian's article, Rolle's 14-year-old daughter has a heart condition and piles of medical bills. Rolle is one of 30 residents of North Andros who were employed by the program. There is no disputing the fact that as a result of the current global economic crisis, the government was left without a choice but to make across the board reductions in the 2009/2010 budget, but it is unconscionable that caring and concerned decision-makers could have sat around the Cabinet table and agreed to eliminate the jobs of those employed by the National Youth Service Program in North Andros. What makes this decision all the more mind-boggling is that the government really cannot justify why it concluded that the program was not doing what it was mandated to do when it was moved to North Andros and the amount of money that is being saved by relocating it to New Providence is minuscule when considered in the overall financial outlay of the budget. In the 2008/2009 budget, the National Youth Service Program, which seeks to redirect the lives of youth-at-risk, was allocated $900,000, but in the 2009/2010 budget, the government decided to cut it by $555,000, representing a 62 percent reduction; thus, leaving Rolle and the other employees of the program in North Andros jobless. In an effort to save, $555,000, what the government essentially did was eliminate all hope that future groups of young men who eventually will join the caravan of at-risk youth on the highway towards a life of crime, will receive the assistance they need to redirect their lives in the right direction. The argument that the program can be replicated in New Providence less costly because travelling expenses to North Andros would be eliminated, totally ignores the major reason for the program's remarkable success. It is precisely because the program is based away from the contaminating influences that led these youngsters astray in the first place that it has had a success rate of around 80 percent. And those who suggest that the program site has deteriorated into a military "boot camp" with "little or no therapeutic, educational or after-care program values," as a report in The Tribune on Monday claimed, are either being totally disingenuous or misinformed about the camp's accomplishments. What's more, the discipline that is inherent in what is taught at a "boot camp" could be viewed as an essential tool in helping to place these young men on the right road towards a better life. There is a school of thought that the government is using this initial drastic budget cut as a first step towards closing the program down entirely. If that is the case it should be honest enough and say so. But surely this is not something that a caring government – one that is concerned about the future of young Bahamians who are faced with certain challenges that could impede their progress and development towards becoming productive human beings – would want its eventual legacy to reflect. Certainly, this is not the kind of government that one would expect under the leadership of a man who has demonstrated over and repeatedly that he is providing this country with good governance. Mr. prime minister, cutting funding for the National Youth Service Program was not a good thing to do, and the necessary steps should be taken immediately to reverse that decision so that the program can continue to help give at-risk youth a fighting chance to become productive, law-abiding citizens of this country. Wednesday, July 1, 2009