The President’s Youth Choice Initiative did not live up to expectations

Mar 13, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Bharrat Jagdeo misrepresented the criticisms that were being levied at the proposed construction of the hotel on Carifesta Avenue. The criticisms about ‘green space’ were never intended to prevent the erection of the hotel. All that was being questioned was why was the hotel being erected in an area traditionally used and assigned for sport and recreational purposes.

In response to this criticism, Jagdeo however said that the government had identified several neglected playfields in Georgetown and were taking steps to improve them. But improving areas already set aside as green spaces is different from appropriating a green space for the construction of a hotel.

The issue is not about investment, it is about the progressive disappearance of greenery, a green zone in the north of the city is being effectively de-zoned to allow for a hotel.

Jagdeo has obviously not learnt the lessons of the past. It is during his time as President that hundreds of millions of dollars were deployed to what was known as the President’s Youth Choice Initiative. The idea was to allow young people to identify projects and for government to support the development of these projects.

That programme was a dismal failure. It flopped. As was remarked by the APNU, there was little to show for it and the projects had little impact on young people, particularly in terms of employment. Most of the projects went into decline because they were ill-conceived and had no sustainability element incorporated.

The APNU accused the government of having an unplanned response to youth unemployment. At a press conference in 2009, a PNC spokesperson said, “If the President Youth Choice Initiative was intended to create employment for young people, it has significantly failed.”

In 2009, this newspaper published an article featuring a Community Centre at Kuru Kuru that was established under the President’s Youth Choice Initiative. The Centre had fallen into disrepair and had become a ‘white elephant’.

In an editorial in 2011, Stabroek News had this to say about the President’s Youth Choice Initiative. “President Jagdeo in one of his earliest ‘initiatives’ presided over the squandering of millions in the ill-starred President’s Youth Choice Initiative which featured myriad buildings being constructed across the country – including some for computer centres – and going to waste because the project, while brimming with noble objectives, was not properly conceived and implemented.”

Instead of owning up to the failure to properly design the projects under the President’s Youth Choice Initiative, blame was deflected to the adults. Addressing a gathering during a Cabinet Outreach in Crabwood Creek in 2010 Jagdeo blamed the lack of community spirit.

Most of the funds used for the President’s Youth Choice Initiative came from the Lotto Fund. A great number of persons, including from the Opposition were of the view that the proceeds from the Lotto should not be held outside of the Consolidated Fund. This controversy was not helpful for the image of the Initiative.

At present, the PPP/C government is making the same mistakes that were made before. What is the use of improving community grounds and playfields when there is no model for the management and sustainability of these grounds.

This is one of the biggest mistakes which is being by the PPP/C government. It is going around the country digging-up and relaying grounds and fencing playfields but who manages these facilities afterwards. All that will happen is that a few years from now, the government will again have to spend hundreds of millions in redoing the same work that they are doing now because there is no system to ensure that those who manage these grounds can afford to maintain them.

Under the same President’s Youth Choice Initiative, fences were built around some playfields including in South Georgetown. After a few years, the fences fell into disrepair because there were no means for the persons managing these facilities to maintain the fences.

But the APNU+AFC did not do any better. It promised a ‘green state’ but turned Durban Park into a parade ground. There is little green left in the area which the APNU+AFC developed for hosting national events.

Jagdeo has promised to hold a press conference on the Skeldon Sugar Factory. He must be held to his word. But before he does that, he should hold one to evaluate the successes of his President’s Youth Choice Initiative.

One of the major failings of this project has been the absence of a published an assessment of its successes and failures. You need not ask which was greater. Even Jagdeo would be hard pressed to deny the obvious.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown, misrepresented, Peeping Tom

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