BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MINISTER of Youth the Hon. Shawn Richards has confessed that the lack of a National Youth Policy could be blamed for the current crime problems among youths in the Federation.
Richards supports the notion that there is more that his Ministry could do to assist youths in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Perhaps, to some extent, the lack of a Youth Policy has contributed towards criminality by young persons here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” Richards said.
This comment, among others, came yesterday (Oct. 11) while the Minister and other Government officials had engaged media representatives at the launch of the Federal Youth Policy Initiative at the Ocean Terrace Inn.
Over the last several months, St. Kitts and Nevis has been plagued by a number of burglaries and armed robberies as well as shooting incidents allegedly perpetrated by youths.
When asked if the lack of a youth policy could be blamed for the crime problem, Minister Richards said: “I am not going to sit here and say that the Youth Department is currently doing and has been doing all that it can to reach out to young persons in St. Kitts and Nevis. I have said to the staff within the Youth Department here in St. Kitts and Nevis that I am of the view that much more can be done as a Youth Department”.
“Even if it is programmes specifically geared towards the needs of those particular young persons...putting programmes in place for young people who are considered to be at risk, and as to how many of those persons would have or could have been saved, one cannot sit here and say that you would have never known the difference it might have made,” the Minister added.
Richards stressed that the Government is not looking at the past but instead have its eyes focused on going forward and finding the best avenues to deal with that problem and drafting of the Youth Policy.
The Minister stated that going forward, as part of their National Strategic Plan, persons “could very well see programmes that will try to help to reform those particular persons”.
He however quickly noted that a number of programmes are currently in place that are impacting young persons in the Federation, pointing to the youth camps which instil various disciplines in attendees.
