Dear Editor,
OIL is coming and are we prepared on the Socio/ Community level? When reading headlines like ‘’Trinidad and Tobago may have the highest murder rate in history this year if the current crime rate continues’’. It is without a doubt that we are heading into a period of prosperity. Venezuela and Trinidad have shown that if wealth is not distributed equally that we are inviting crime of unparalleled proportions to enter our lives and, in the case of Venezuela, political instability. We seriously need to sit up and look around and learn from the mistakes of others.

With potential wealth coming, which hopefully will be filtered to the economy, careful note must be given to those who will be totally left behind. These persons are at the bottom of the heap, few are literate, or have any vocation skills, and we cannot expect that they will be happy with their non-participation. Also, do not expect that there will be no repercussions due to their desperation at being left out. It is an established fact that most crimes are committed by repeat offenders; bearing this in mind, we need to rethink our position.

In order to circumvent and install a preventative crime programme, we must create the social and economic conditions for all our people and especially the economically depressed ones. These include advanced emphasis on sporting activity in schools, accessible field and track areas , remedial teaching for school drop-outs, community centres for vocational skills training for illiterate school drop-outs and sporting activities. Basically, we need to encourage our youths to be participants in sports and community activities and teach them a trade so they can become useful members of society; anything less is a recipe for disaster. I am pretty certain that our new friends in the Oil industry might be persuaded to look into this, and what is required is public / private partnership to safeguard our collective futures. Oil investors, by all accounts, have received generous terms. The funds required to strategically plan for the oil wealth and social development to avoid the negative consequences are minuscule compared to the benefits to society, which will be a safer operating environment that will see a reduction on security expenses and also a politically stable environment, unlike Venezuela where foreign companies lost their entire investments.

Our priorities must be with our youths and the unemployed. We need remedial programmes to teach basic literacy and job skills where none exist, and which, if not addressed, will contribute significantly to our crime situation. We need a tri-partite approach by Government, the oil industry and from all socially concerned citizens and advocates groups. This needs to be implemented immediately. Time is of the essence to have these programmes implemented before it is too late. For companies and individuals who would like to support this initiative, please email me at roybeepat@giftlandofficemax.com. Let us start this discussion to safeguard our future.

Please be advised that this is a non-political and non-pressure movement.

Regards,
Roy Beepat
Chairman
Giftland Group