I caught the first two episodes of People Solutions Ideas hosted by James Fletcher and Embert Charles. Both featured young, bright minds on the discussion panel, none past 30. They explored topics and problems that confront young Saint Lucians, and possible remedies. Among subjects touched on were the youth contributions to the escalating crime rate and the hunt for jobs that vaguely echoes the dystopian Hunger Games for freshly-turned-out Sir Arthur Lewis graduates. More than once I heard: “There are no opportunities for young people,” but the reasons for that took up little discussion time.
The main opportunity deficit discussed on PSI was jobs. The common complaint of employers about unskilled candidates coming into the work place was mentioned. The suggested solution was to teach students useful skills at school: public speaking, social problem solving, appropriate dress attire and so on. It was also suggested that business houses offer such training as their corporate responsibility. I caught myself shouting: “Why don’t you also talk about employers that mistreat their young employees even when they are skilled? Some young people, who are trained, do two jobs’ worth of work and only get paid for one!”
Had I been taught my rights in school and what I am entitled to according to the Labour Code I would not have been cheated by some of my past employers. I would have learned how to file my taxes. Some of the worst problems are encountered at government offices. PSI should have mentioned the next-to-incompetent Labour Department; the thousands of hotel workers the politicians like to talk about, all without union representation
Another plight of the 20-something Saint Lucian: only a small percentage can attend university, and not all of them are crazy about employment at a hotel or call centre. A PSI discussion should have included the fact that too often young people are forced to accept such employment because they have no other choice. Still, the youth unemployment rate in Saint Lucia remained steadily at over a third in 2017. What young people are presented with is an economy on crutches. Long-established business houses no longer exist; new ones survive only a few months and others remain open that cannot afford new paint for their outside walls.
Who is going to tell young entrepreneurs unable to find traditional jobs that they all can’t be bag makers, crochet designers, painters or soap makers? And that the market comprises about 179,000 people who need to shop in the supermarket despite ever rising prices. Of course, there are the millions of tourists that are taxied from their all-inclusive hotels to Soufriere, or from the cruise ships to the beach. But there seems to be no failsafe method by which to ascertain how much they spend while in Saint Lucia.
As acknowledged by PSI, it’s not only with jobs that young people face difficulties. What do they want? A young mother wants to be able to stay in the hospital if contractions are unbearable and unpredictable a week before the baby comes, without being chased out because beds are a scarcity. An 18-year-old with only a few days’ unpaid vacation wants not to have to sacrifice a day to get an ID card done. Young women and children want to have confidence in their police force and not be frightened of the United States impact on local law and order. Above all, the way to know it’s unlikely they will suffer the fate of Chereece Benoit, Jezelle Georges and several other young women whose lives were suddenly taken from them—with impunity.
Young people also want to be able to trust the process of democracy; that the people chosen to conduct local and foreign policy will do so with dedication. One MP had that in mind during this week’s Estimates of Expenditure presentation when he said: “The management of the Saint Lucian economy must be done in an environment of fairness and inclusion and with a level of fiscal responsibility so that our young people are not burdened with the debts that we are undertaking today.”
Alas, it seems young people are not the least interested in the activities of parliament. They’ve heard the words uttered by Pierre this week from the mouths of several other MPs from both sides of the House, words that have always proved empty.
As I write, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper comes to mind. In his 1998 report titled ‘Public Life in St Lucia’, he writes: “From the limited, but not unrevealing perspective of the Commission of Inquiry I have discerned a culture in St Lucia of studied indifference or, at the very least, inattention to the practice, even the concept, of public accountability — a cultural climate in which administrative torpor is often the consequence, and malpractices in government (including corruption) can thrive, unhampered by detection or, if and when uncovered, by disciplinary action.”
Additionally: “The new government in St Lucia has been uncomfortably aware of the past backwardness in good governance. That recognition is a necessary first step towards dispelling the culture . . .”
It’s not that People Solutions Ideas was void of important points. The show is new, it’s a laudable idea and it is to be hoped it will continue to offer young people opportunities to represent themselves at discussions centred on their immediate and long-term future.
This youth month, I encourage young people to not simply repeat, “There are no opportunities for us.” Understand what are the problems before you. Read more; listen, challenge and assist those who represent the youth in policy making. Very soon we will be the ones standing in the House of Assembly or receiving reports like Louis Blom-Cooper’s. Will we follow our present leaders and shelve report after costly report, in the process perpetuating the national attitude to corruption that shook Blom-Cooper to his core?
