APNU’s Chris Jones is obviously ‘sailing’ as an Opposition MP
– and based on past evidence, we have to take everything he says to the media with a pinch of salt

OLD Kai is always happy to see when our youths progress from one stage to the next in public life. Take for instance, PNC (now APNU) Member of Parliament Chris Jones. He started out as a cameraman for the PNC, and then gradually moved up the ranks to the position he enjoys today.It is a pity that not many other youths have been given such a chance by the PNC/APNU, despite Opposition leader David Granger never missing an opportunity to say how much he is concerned for our youths.

Maybe the reason for Granger being hesitant to give youths in his party a push is based on the disappointing showing of the few that he has given an opportunity.

Take for instance Vanessa Kissoon of Linden. She has been sidelined around the same time APNU’s DR Rupert Roopnarine lamented in the media that their ‘Shadow Ministers’ were not pulling their weight. He was in essence accusing them of being incompetent. Some of his actual words quoted in the media at the time were, “…. (APNU) Shadow Ministers are not serving their purpose while others are purely relying on the strength of others.”

It does not take a genius to realise that if these people cannot perform such a basic function while in the Opposition, how then can they be effective in Government where the demands are far greater?

This man is more at sea than I initially thought; Old Kai is embarrassed for him. He clearly is unprepared and does not have a clue about detention and rehabilitation facilities for troubled youths.

This discussion takes us back to the MP Chris Jones; you will remember him as the one who attempted to make himself a victim against a group of Police ranks who had stopped him regarding the dark tint on his vehicle.
As expected, he ran and complained to the Kaieteur News that his vehicle had manufacturers’ tint and after being warned some time before by the Police to get the necessary legal permission, when he was stopped again, he admitted that he was still in the ‘process of applying’ for something which takes less than one day. The report quoted him as also indicating that he was eventually made to take the tint off his vehicle.

The Kaieteur News reporter, either deliberately or not, ignored the inconsistent claims by the MP, as if his vehicle did indeed have manufacturers’ tint, it could not have been easily taken off as he later admitted he did.

When Old Kai first exposed this, it was not meant to embarrass but to point out that there was no need for one to be less than honest on such a petty issue. I had hoped the MP would have learnt from his misadventure but it appears he has not.

The latest issue is his statement regarding the construction of an additional facility by the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture at the New Opportunity Corps on the Essequibo coast in Region 2. In the very Kaieteur News this week, a bold headline proclaims Jones as saying ‘NOC being converted into youth prison’. He then adds ‘if the Opposition had known, the money would have never been allocated’.

Firstly, this is a very damning indictment on the Opposition, as it was not aliens from Mars sitting in their chairs during the budget presentation and debate. Jones statement serves to confirm the admission by Dr. Rupert Roopnarine as articulated above, that APNU MP’s or Shadow Ministers ‘are not serving their purpose’.

Mr. Jones who is the youth representative for the APNU was questioning the Minister during the debates, so how can he now come and tell the nation ‘if he had known’ when he had the opportunity ‘to know’ back then.

But there is another twist to the story, and it is no other than Mr. Jones who incriminates himself once again. He is quoted by the article as indicating that ‘the Ministry had advertised for bids to be submitted for the construction of a confinement building at the New Opportunity Corps’ but ‘instead of building a confinement building, the Ministry had opted to construct eight individual holding cells.’

Now having established that he apparently had no problem that the Ministry was constructing a ‘confinement building’ he cannot pretend to be Rip Van Winkle and wakeup several months later, astonished that there are ‘individual holding cells’ being placed inside the facility.

Just in case he is not familiar with the synonyms for ‘confinement’ they are incarceration, detention, etc.

Let us also establish that some of the youths sent to the NOC can be violent or display such behaviour (that is why they are sent there in the first instance), hence the need for a confinement facility for those who may pose a risk to others.

Is the APNU MP suggesting that in instances where it will be necessary to isolate violent offenders from others, it is safer to place them together in one open detention facility? Is this why he is so upset that ‘individual holding cells’ are being constructed?

Basic common sense would tell you that violent youths placed together in an open facility is a recipe for disaster, as not only do they pose a threat to each other and staff members but there will also be a greater likelihood of more destructive behaviour.

Clearly, the APNU MP Chris Jones did not think this one fully through before he rushed to grab some space in the media headlines. What this also shows is that the need to ‘politick’ by the Opposition takes precedence over the safety of these youths.

It does not end there, as the article notes that ‘Jones pointed out that NOC is a facility for juveniles, and placing them in such a room would do nothing for them. He said that this flies in the face of what the Ministry has been touting about rehabilitation.’

This man is more at sea than I initially thought; Old Kai is embarrassed for him. He clearly is unprepared and does not have a clue about detention and rehabilitation facilities for troubled youths. Old Kai will do him a favour and provide him this bit of information about the Five County Detention and Youth Rehabilitation Center in the USA. The facility tells us on its website that “5-C is a safe and secured facility that contract with agencies to house and provide staging and treatment to high risk juvenile offenders. Juveniles placed in Detention are housed separately in a separate wing away from juveniles committed to States’ or Federal custody.”

Old Kai will stress on the words, ‘juveniles are housed separately…’ and I would encourage him to go do his research and then come and try again.