Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new talk radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: And welcome back to Freedom 106.5 FM. The Minister of Youth Development and National Science, the Hon. Foster Cummings, also MP for Tal Parela Hokita is in the studio with me and we about to get heavily into some of the initiatives and projects that his ministry has embarked on as it relates to the youth in this country. With 150 young persons graduating from the Ministry of Youth Development and National Sciences Youth Agricultural Homestead Program which was presented and licenses to occupy lands in Chatham Dairy Farm during this ceremony that took place on July 8th. That was last year.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: July. Yeah, last year. We have graduated much more than that.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Much more than that going forward. Minister Cummings, I say good morning to you and welcome to Freedom 106.5 FM.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Good morning David. I'm very happy to be here on Freedom this morning to share with Trinidad and Tobago the great news of all that we've been doing at the MyDNS as we call it, for sure. National Ministry of Youth Development, National Service.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Well, you know, as the honorable Minister, you know you have some youth in you because I see a shortened. I was hearing about this mydn, everything's short now, lol.
And all these things are shortened. So Honourable Minister, thank you very much for joining us here on the Morning Rumble. Now let's start off to talk a little bit about the Youth Agricultural Shade House initiative that you all would have installed there at the Ministry.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: The agricultural programs of the ministry have been very, very much oversubscribed. You know, young people are very much interested in this new career opportunity. Well, new to them because every time we advertise these programs they're all over subscribed. Everybody's excited to try to get in. The Shade House program is a protected agriculture program which the Prime Minister saw in Guyana and decided to introduce here in Trinidad and Tobago. And it is intended to chart a new career path for persons wanting to get into agricultural production. To provide produce to the hotels, the tourism sector, the restaurants, the supermarkets, et cetera, all high value vegetables, some of which we import. So it's also intended to reduce our food import bill and to improve our food security and quite well at Tucker Valley we formed, the students have formed themselves into a cooperative. We do this program in conjunction with uwi so they receive certification from UE and then they go into the actual production. We have also launched a community fresh vegetable program recently where we're going to construct 30 shade houses across various locations in the country to do the similar type of production. And that program, we will be training some of the CPEP workers to get involved in agricultural production. The homestead programs which you spoke about earlier is where. It's a program we do in conjunction with UTT where persons will be trained, certified, and then they get two acres of land, they get a homestead, they get a grant to continue their farming initiative. And then we have the aquaculture program. The aquaculture program, which is also along the same line of training young people of how do they produce various types of seafood to launch a career in that path.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Very interesting.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: To date, we have trained over 1,400 agricultural students who are now going out there to be farmers and to produce food for all of us.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: And the lands are acquired for them to do such.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: We have started to distribute lands in Chatham and we have different locations, one in La Gloria as well, and different locations where the government has idle state lands. And we will develop these lands and give it to these students so they can get into business.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Most interesting. Want to remind all of our listeners this morning that you can check us out live on Facebook. We are live on Facebook and Instagram, so you can look out for us there and get in on the action. Now, when it comes to the continued development of the agricultural sector within your ministry, would you say that you have gotten what we call a heavy bite, a lot of persons interested into this project, or was it difficult to lure these young people into this agriculture?
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Not difficult at all. I mean, we thought that they would not be so interested because there's the old talk. You see, if you plan based on old talk, you'll be derailed. But when we put the program out initially we were looking for 200 students. We got applications of almost 1200, so that it says to us that there's a keen interest. And every time we advertise different aspects of these programs, we see, you know, there's so many young people. Some people say, look, I've applied two and three times. They're just knocking on the door to get in. We have made agriculture sexy again.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Wow, I like that. We've made agricultural sexy again because we look at it as hard worker. You have to go out there and plant. That is a lot of work. It's hot sun, you know, and you don't get much youth. Interesting. So I like the way you put it. You make agricultural sex. Now, as we move on to some other initiatives that was put on by your ministry, we have youth on stage, national youth Festival and talent search. Do you care to elaborate on that. Now, with this youth on stage, it's all about the. The Youth Festival Talent Search initiative, which was successfully hosted in 2024.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Yes. And we repeat it again. We will repeat it again this year. What we're trying to do is we coming, we're going, we're coming to your community to find your talent that is hidden and we are going to expose that talent so that you can now find a career path. We are finding or providing opportunities for young people to excel and be the best version of themselves. So you might be in Toko, but you have real talent not exposed to the national or international community. And that is what you're on stage provides. We're also teaming these persons up with a mentor to help them and to guide them into how can they monetize their talent.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: And that is something that is incredible. Incredible, because I will tell you this, we have often heard other persons on the outside says that when a SOCA artist comes out there, one of the reasons why we're not successful with our music is because we do not bring the youth with us. You know, we want that shine for ourselves as opposed to others who would discover people and bring them out. So I think this youth on stage, this, this is something great. But just to back it up a little bit very quickly here on the agricultural front, would you say it would have contributed significantly to the sector and would this initiative on the MYDNS help with the reducing of prices?
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Well, definitely, because as you, I mean, the more you produce is a demand and supply thing. So once we increase our production and we, I mean, we have the NAMDEVCO guiding these young farmers on what they should produce because they want to create a gluttony market in any event, so that they, based on there's market research existing at Namdevco and they will share that information with these farmers. So they guide it on what they should get involved in.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: And I heard that come yesterday when I spoke with the honorable Minister Hassal Bakus. He talked about it because as you mentioned, we don't want everybody doing tomatoes.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Or everybody doing potatoes or whatever it is, but outside of the agricultural produce in terms of vegetables and so forth, have you all embarked on fruit trees and fruits and these other things?
[00:07:25] Speaker A: They would be involved in all aspects of agriculture and including livestock as well. But some of the young people are also interested in agro processing because as part of their training, they do some level of agro processing. So that you find that once you go into agroprocessing, you want a consistent supply of the raw material to make sure the business is viable. And therefore that is where Nambev Kwande advice comes in so that on the value added side of the agroprocessing persons will be able to have a reliable supply.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Now, as we move on to our next point here this morning, we want to remind persons that you can log into Facebook and get in tune with us. Let's go on to the Youth Awards, the initiative of course coming from her Excellency Christine Carla Kangulu. Now that awards took place last September, unleashing potential celebrating the excellence of Trin Tobago's youth, which encapsulated the spirit of innovation and resilience. What has MYDNS done to encourage entrepreneurship? And of course, as again data innovative spirit in a way, we are always.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Very happy to showcase the successes that we have among the young population and particularly because, you know, bad news sells. So people spend so much time talking about the issues that we may have with young people who get themselves into problems. And the Youth Awards which is under the patronage of her Excellency, gives an opportunity to persons who have excelled in various fields to be recognized and to be showcased in the national community and have young people looking up to them as role models that they want to be like. And therefore, you know, I sat there and I was stunned at some of the things that these young people are involved in and they are certainly going to put Trinidad and Tobago on the center stage, some of them. In terms of the entrepreneurship you spoke about. Well, you know, netco is our agency that handles that and the government has started a smaller microentrepreneurship grant because we are training so many people and there are so many people who want to get involved in business. Not everybody wants to be an employee. Some persons want to create jobs, they want to be an employer, they want to take the risk and go into business, but they don't have the startup capital and to start them off with a loan, you know, really does not put them in the best position. So the government is prepared to give them some short term training through netco and assist them with their business plan, show them how to keep their books, how to maintain their taxes and their nis, et cetera. And when you come out of that program, which is just a three week program, you will get access to a $20,000 grant so you can start up. And if I give you it, practically assuming that you do air conditioning refrigeration and you now want to start your trade, you don't have the money to buy the tools that are required, then that kind of grant will give you that startup and it has been very successful so far.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: I was about to ask you that, what are some of the success stories you would have heard as your ministry emanating from this initiative coming from your government?
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Well, there's several. One in particular of someone who opened a tire shop. Then we have people who are tailors, we have barbers, we have nail techs. It's a wide, wide range of persons who have gone into small business and are doing quite well. And netco continues to support them through there. After they would get the initial grant, they start up business, expand, they want to expand. They have access to netco loans to do that as well.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Let's talk about some of the other programs that MYDNS is engaged in and we have the military led academic training program mylat. Now with this training program, I mean within the ambit of the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service, it was designed to educate trained and certified young men between the ages of 16 to 20.
Would you all ever look at revisiting that age bracket?
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Well, that program has been very successful. Right. So what you try to do, some of these young men have come out of secondary school but did not do very well for all sorts of issues arise. So you want to capture that group coming out of secondary school and get them into an environment where they can excel. So you have young men there who may have had behavioral issues, who would not have done well at all. They come out with zero or one or two subjects. And on the output end, some of these young men have come out with five, six O levels, a full certificate which gives them now a platform for their own development that they can move into employment, as I said earlier. So that yes, we continually monitor what we do and evaluate what we do. But we think that that age group, 16 to 20 is an early time for us to capture some of these young people and to help them to get their life on track.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: You know why I asked you that question is because I thought about it and most of the times between that age bracket, that four year bracket, sometimes they're still finding and coming into themselves. And you find when they reach their early twenties, they are now looking into what could I do now? They have now seen the reality of life. I don't have this, I need to get that. And could I now turn around and get into that program?
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Well, not that particular program, but we have lots of other opportunities for training and development all the way up to age 35. Because our ministry focuses on Our cut off ages age 35. So while they may not be able to get into mylat, there's several other non residential type programs that they can do such as the heavy equipment operation, such as the drive which is to the vehicle maintenance program, such as the program Crisp which is the air conditioning and refrigeration program or Fuse which is the overhead line clearing program or pipe which is the plumbing program. In conjunction with wasa, we have a wide range of program programs available for young people on the digital.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: But how are these programs communicated to our wider youth? I have persons talking to me yesterday after the morning show yesterday saying that they were unaware of some of these programs. What has your ministry undertaken in order to push that out there?
[00:13:47] Speaker A: You know we have done. My being here this morning is one of one such initiative. Every opportunity that we get, we take those opportunities. But most importantly, the youth career caravan that goes into the community is one of the most effective ways that we get the information out. We use social media. You can go on our website www.mydns.govtt which will give you all of the information you can apply online. At the same time you can visit our ministry's office at the corner of Elizabeth just next to the Ontragwit Road just next to the oval. Or you could go to any of the district offices. We have several district offices across the country that persons can just go into and get all the data. Or we use traditional media as well. We come on the shows as we're doing now this morning I was on CNC3 earlier on yesterday I was on TTT. We just share the information as much as we can. But the career caravan, what it does as we come into the community, there's a big truck going around to all these streets advertising my DNS. Here we come out our bazaar and at that location all of the ministries and agencies set up and they disseminate the information at a community level. And you can sign up on spot. So we have been to Maloney, we have been to La Hokita, we have been to San Fernando, we have been to Sandy Grande, we have been to Chaguanas, we've been to Siparia, we go all over the country. We've been to point 14, we have had over 20 something about 27 or so caravans across the country and we continue to roll those out because we feel it's very effective because we're bringing the information to you within your community.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: I appreciate you giving me that information. Now let's talk a little bit about the campaign trail that's happening right now.
These initiatives have been on the books for quite some time. And you rightfully mentioned that persons have benefited and they continue to benefit from these programs. Thousands, thousands of persons. So it's there. All right. And I'm very, very happy that the young people are taking up the opportunity to be part of that. Now, with a program like my lab, we talk about those not academically inclined too much or for whatever reason, didn't do well at the CXE level. What about those coming out of university? How are we? They often complain that when I come out with my degrees, my master's, I can't get a job, I can't get in. There's nothing for me here. And then we find them leaving the island and traveling and traversing abroad.
The ministers that were here yesterday of digital transformation and communication spoke about bringing them back and using them within the ministries. And of course, even though the renumeration package may not be attractive as that in the private sector, they feel part of when they come to the very Minister de Noberger and Minister Bachas, they say that they feel re energized that they are contributing to the national growth of the economy. What is the MYDNS doing to keep those coming out of university?
Probably later on this year?
[00:16:49] Speaker A: What we have sought to do is to say to people, listen, everybody cannot be an employee.
We are pushing the question of entrepreneurship, small business development, because we see at midns, we want you to be job creators as opposed to be job seekers. Take that risk. We are giving you the support, you have the great idea, and we are going to marry your idea with the capital and the guidance and the mentorship to make sure that you can get into business and take that risk and be a success. And many persons are doing it now. In addition to that, you know, the government has the on the job training program so that those persons who come out of university and they want to get the experience, the OJT is the instant avenue for them to do that because as they apply for their job, the employer says, we want you to have some experience. And that's what the OJT program has been doing very successfully over the years. Many persons have taken advantage of that. But some people want to get the international exposure. Some people want to work outside of Trinidad and Tobago, and that's not a problem. They can go there, get the experience. They may choose to come back home, they may choose not to. At the end of the day, what we are most important, what we are most interested in is making sure. That you have all the opportunity to become a successful citizen contributing to the development of the country. All right.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: As we continue our conversation here this morning, often than not we hear that we are in the election season now. So not just to focus on MyDNS, your campaign so far for the election season, how are you faring so far?
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Well, I mean, you know, we are good at what we do. The party I belong to has been in this now for 59 years. So that, you know, we are the election lion in Trinidad and Tobago. We are the unstoppable machine and therefore, you know, I'm general Secretary of the PNM so that we utilize all that we have learned over the years. I've been in this now for 38 years and it is very exciting whenever an election comes around. So I have been out in the hustings, out in the field, going home to home, house to house, street to street and you know, interacting and communicating with those persons I've been representing over the last four years and a half. I think that we have put in the work, I think that the projects and programs we've been involved in, particularly in the areas of human development, skill development and opportunities for our young people in particular within the constituency and the country, people are very happy with what we've been doing and I think that they will certainly re elect this government.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: And I will say that the views of the minister Foster Cummings. So I'm going to ask you now what in let's take your constituency for example, what initiatives? How are you attempting to get the attraction of the younger voter? Because you know, you have these stalwarts, you know, the grannies, the moms, the dads. Yeah, there's a PNM house. We here, we this, we that. But then you have the youth, you have the 18 year olds, those who just turned 18 earlier this year, late last year, they are now eligible voters in this country. What are your government doing on this election campaign to attract those younger?
[00:20:00] Speaker A: I am saying to young people of this country, you know, don't let anybody. Mama guy you about no code and all that foolishness. Life is not that simple. It's not about somebody telling you X is the code or Y is the code and that no, no, no, you have to, to tap into how do you plan for your future. And that is what we're doing in La Hoketa Taaru. We are promoting education, we are promoting skills development, we are promoting entrepreneurship. We just opened the brand, the newest library in the country, right. Which gives opportunity for you to get a safe space for you to go and improve yourself. We just turned this out for the construction of a youth development center in La Hokita that will give young people the opportunity for skills development and training in your hometown. You can walk to the center in phase four when it's completed and that center will also have entrepreneurship shops so persons who want to open their salon, etc. Can have that opportunity to do so within the community and have that, you know, economic activity taking place within the community. And cabinet recently approved the construction of a new secondary school right there in La Hokita. So I am saying to the young people, focus on education, focus on training, focus on skill development, focus on improving yourself so that you can be empowered and independent and nobody have to tell you about no code.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: So and you think that code, that.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Is just, that's just rubbish to get into your head, you know, using, you know, people paying influencers come and tell you about some code and some code. What does that do for you? It does nothing. You have to make the first step in your self development and we are prepared to hold your hand and assist you in doing that in a meaningful way, in a tangible way. When we take a young person and we pay for your tuition and we give you a stipend and when you finish, you get two acres of land and a house and a starter grant. If you put a cost to that to the taxpayer, that is a significant tangible investment in an individual and in the future. And not only individual, it's future family. Because a homestead is, we're saying get the family involved in the agriculture. Why are you coming and tell me about some cool, what does that do.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: For anybody outside of these initiatives that currently has proven to be successful? Should your government retain governance in this country?
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Not should. When.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: What new initiatives would you like to see come on the table?
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Well, to start with, we are going to expand opportunities for the development of our people. You know, it's just not just a question of putting up buildings. And so the question is how do we shape our future? And to shape our future we have to invest in our people. And that is what we will be doing. We'll be expanding the opportunities for the development of the future of Trinidad and Tobago which is our young people.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: Interesting enough. Interesting enough. Now one texter is asking me that they wanted to know from a ministry point of view about the youth and voting and not just within your area. So they wanted you to broaden the horizon outside of Lakata to Albaru. What has NYDNS been doing across the diaspora to really attract the younger voters at this time?
[00:23:07] Speaker A: Well, I can tell you what I say to the young people is because many of them feel as some kind of hip thing not to vote. And you know, there are political parties in this country who have hired people in the past to suppress the young vote. And I'm saying to young people, that is a trick. Do not fall for anything that tells you it is sexy not to vote.
You know, I'm not. I'm not screaming at you who you should vote for, but be involved in the process because it is your future. It is the future of the country at stake. And when you say I don't vote, well, you're really saying, I will leave it up to others to decide who will determine my future, who will manage this space. And what you want is a responsible government in office. It's not about a pickup size. It's not about everybody handing the barrel. And like, you know, just. People have to understand that what we do today will affect us tomorrow.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Let me ask you this question.
You talk about the youth entrepreneurship, the skills training that they need, education. On a whole, what other initiatives do you think, oh, is government currently using to get younger people to be attracted to parliament on a whole, get into the world of politics, be part of government, to change whatever you feel is not working in the country. What are you all doing? What is MyDNS doing?
[00:24:30] Speaker A: The former prime minister on many occasions have made the call to young people because we have a lot of talented young people in this country to come forward and be and take part in the management of your country. And I think that call was. He did. We have a lot of young people in the government of Trinidad and Tobago at this point in time. We have a lot of young ministers. I mean, and they're doing very well. Look at the minister of national security right now. He's. He's younger than I am, right? And so they're getting opportunities to showcase. Look at the minister of education, relatively young person. So we have young people in the government and as young people within the country, look and see these young people performing. Look at the prime minister. He's younger than I am. So that we have young people at the helm demonstrating that they have the capacity to manage the affairs of the country. And therefore, that is an indication to other young people that they can do it as well.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: Have you all looked at initiatives such as youth debate in parliament in the sense that having the youths coming to parliament and debate with the stalwarts, the ones that are There, the seasoned veterans such as yourself and others like Colin.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: Imbert, well, it has not been gotten to that, but we do have the youth Parliament, where young people play the role of the MP and come into Parliament and have that experience.
And on both sides, I think to some extent, we have some young parliamentarians. It is for the citizenry, the young people out there, to look on and say, listen, this looks like something I want to be part of. But to do that, you have to have parliamentarians conducting themselves in such a manner that young people will feel, that is something I want to be in. We do have, unfortunately, some behavior on the part of some parliamentarians and some politicians that will not send that message, and that is not attractive.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: I want to piggyback off of that because I often say time and time again, when you get the new ones coming into Parliament, all right, they come with that drive, that energy. And I say it off of the heels of an executive director from one particular entity that worked his way from the ground up. When he got upstairs and everybody was all up in arms, yeah, he came from down here, so he understands our fight. And when he got up there, he was told, take it easy.
What you see upstairs here, this is it. Don't worry about there. You just take what you had to get on your pie and move. Is that the same mindset when it comes to. We often believe that people must never.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: Forget where they came from. In my own experience, I can tell you, you know, I came from very humble beginnings. My father was a cane cutter at Kearney. My mother was a market vendor at the Couva Market. I spent a lot of time, a lot of my years assisting my mother at the Couva market. And that gave me, I think, a grounding that I will never forget. And you can't forget, you know, who you are today.
But remember, you can't forget where you came from, because who you are today is a representation of all the experience, experiences that you have had coming up to where you are now. And therefore, I always try to remember my early experiences, and it has helped to shape me into who I am today. And I say to young people, listen, it doesn't matter where you have come from. Once you have a plan, you are going to succeed. And we see our role as a government as to holding your hand, providing the opportunities that would cause you to succeed. It doesn't matter whether you're born to a poor home, a rich home, a working class. It doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, once you have a Drive to succeed. You will succeed. Don't allow your circumstances to hold you.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Back, to limit you as to what you can do.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: All right. So at this time I'll be open to take a couple calls with you very, very quickly here on The Morning Rumble, 625-2257 and 6273223. Any questions that you would like to pose to the minister of my DNS this morning, we'd be more than happy to take those calls. Hello. Good morning.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: Good morning, Minister. Minister, your program there is that those who qualified will get a 2 acre plot of land. Okay. That's, that's taxpayers land. They also get $250,000 grant.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no. All right. Allow the minister to respond to no.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: But you're giving misinformation. I have to tell you what the correct information is. Those young persons who are interested in agriculture, we have a program called the Homestead program. They show an interest. They enrolled at ekaf, which is our agricultural school in the country. So they get proper training and certification. We want to make sure when they go there they're doing the right thing. Then they get first year at school. The second year they go onto a farm with a master farmer. It's a year of apprenticeship. So they get the practical aspect of it. And thereafter we provide them with the land to go and ply their trade, which they get a starter home on the land and a grant of the 20,000, not 250,000, a grant of $20,000 so they could help them with some of the inputs. Because what we want to make sure is a new generation of farmers. Our farming population is aging. So we want to make sure that we can feed ourselves as a country. That is a government's investment.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: So it's not $250,000. That is misinformation. It's $20,000 grant. Tell her. Good morning.
[00:30:01] Speaker C: Morning. Calling from Pinal, which at one time was a traditional farming area. Nobody has come to find out while the land is there and nobody's farming. I think that would be a great help. You know, there's land already in ownership by the children of farmers, children and grandchildren. It's not being cultivated. I would have thought that's a great place to start, but unfortunately.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: All right.
[00:30:26] Speaker C: Well, not unfortunately, but realistically we are not all going to agree on these things.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Anybody who shows the interest. Caller. Because this is a thing that somebody has to show an interest in. So once the young people show an interest in it, we are prepared to talk with them and see how we can assist because, you know, the homestead program is not the only avenue. If there are young people who have access to land, who want to farm the land and they want assistance with that, we are prepared to have that conversation.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: Hello. Good morning.
Hello.
[00:30:59] Speaker D: Hi, Is this Good morning Panchayat?
[00:31:01] Speaker B: This is the morning rumble. Yes.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:03] Speaker D: DG. Good morning, Mr. Minister. Good morning. I've been trained for a long while. I am from Brazil Village, sir, and I want to ask you what are you doing with our roads? Our roads in our deplorable condition? The last time I see you was in 2020.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: All right, thank you very much, Minister.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: You sound like you know, your MP is very available.
We can't pave all of the roads one time. But I make all the representation to the Ministry of Works to make sure that we can get, you know, resolution to various issues. In terms of the roadways, I am available. I'm there all the time. So if you want to see me, I have a sub office in Todds Road. I have an office in La Hoketa. I'm very available to all of the constituents. Doesn't matter where you come from.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Hello. Good morning.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: Morning.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Morning.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: I am from Todd area. I want to tell the minister that we are suffering in Turtle. One with road and second is water.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: We just drilled with Wasa a new well at Las Lomas. We're going to do two more to make sure that we improve the water supply. There's a booster station we just did as well in the same Brazil that the previous caller called about earlier. And all of these things are in an effort to improve the water supply. In the last four years, the minister of. The former Minister of Public Utilities toured the constituency with me and met various constituents. But what you mean, this is the election season. So I have no doubt that the.
My opponents are lined up in their campaign office to call to make their comments, but the work is being done.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: And finally, Minister, as we bring it back to the youth this morning, because I know we have other engagements as we bring it back to the youth this, this morning. When it comes to debating these youth, I mean, what initiative do you recommend that we could undertake now to attract them to really come in other than. I'm talking the youth, the age bracket, 25 up, coming up to get in active politics where you and others can seriously debate with them, hear their concerns?
[00:33:14] Speaker A: We do a lot of consultation. The National Youth policy, for instance, which we put together in 2020, that runs up to 2025 this year, got a lot of input from young people. We are Currently reviewing it for the next five years. And the consultation will be done with the widest cross section of our young people across the country. The umbrella groups, the youth councils, the district youth groups, the police youth clubs. We consult as much as possible, and we will continue to do so because we want to encourage the participation. We also have a national leadership program that we do in conjunction with UWI that we are going to relaunch shortly. We did it last year, we're going to do it again. And therefore, young people will have the opportunity to contribute to the policy that will guide how our youth development going forward.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: Minister Cummings, I want to thank you very much for being part of the morning rumble this morning. But I also want to invite you and ask you a question. Would you be willing to sit on a panel here with us at Freedom and debate a panel of youths yourself? And we sit here on a program and debate on issues that are affecting us.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: As long as we're talking youth development, the Minister of Youth Development will be available for discussions like that.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: As long as we're talking youth development, the Minister of Youth Development would be available.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Very, very available. My passion is to assist with the development of the youth future of this country, which is our young people. And I'm open to any forum to have that discussion.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: Fair enough. And that is something that we want. One texter is saying that we would want you to come back and debate the youth. We want you to come with us as well. All right. And we will contact you on these issues. Most definitely. But most definitely, I want to ask you a question of the coffee. Leaving now, we've taken a break. News to the top on your sports. If your government that you're currently in retains position to lead this country come April 29, what ministry would you prefer stay in or go to?
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you something. You see, in this job, the assignment of ministries lands with the Prime Minister. Right?
[00:35:28] Speaker B: Noted.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: So as a part of a team, wherever the leader of your team would feel that you can make the best contribution, you do so. I have served my time at the Ministry of Youth Development. And wherever I'm asked to serve in the future, I'll be very willing to do so.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: But that's where the Prime Minister stops if he feels you can contribute. But what about you feeling that you know what? I have much more to do in this ministry, but they want to put me here.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: The system doesn't operate where you get to choose.
Or else, you know, we spend a lot of time trying to put a cabinet together.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Minister of Youth Development, here this morning with us. I really appreciate you being a part of the team this morning. We have been chatting with Minister Foster Cummings, Minister of Youth Development and National Service.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
