The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I was saddened to hear of the vicious home invasion inflicted on Rev Major and his family. It is depressing that elderly persons who have contributed  greatly to the growth of our nation should suffer such fear and indignity.

However, we need to change the dialogue from punishment to causes of crime. We have to acknowledge that we have a population which is largely illiterate and, as they are not qualified to obtain well paying jobs but want a life which needs the support of mega or at least medium bucks, they are prepared to opt for the illegal means of income.

We need to revamp our educational system, using night classes if necessary and reintroduce trade classes in schools so that persons leaving school will have some skills to impress a potential employer.

Presently, we have many of our brighter students deciding not to return home because they see no future. Instead of giving so many incentives to foreigners we need to empower our own people.

There are many young entrepreneurs out there with good ideas to start businesses which can benefit themselves and others but are unable to obtain seed money or loans . In my opinion it would be better to use the funds  which are earmarked or the Carnival party which lost money last year to give these youngsters seed money of $10,000 or so to use to start businesses using their ideas. I feel that this would go far in the fight against crime as it could empower persons to do something positive.

More than 20 years ago a group of persons, including myself, had sought leases of crown land in a family island to establish small guest houses. However, we did not get he courtesy of replies. Now there is nothing happening in this particular family island and the young people are leaving and the settlement is dying. This scenario is probably played out many times in other islands and this leads to frustration and depression which can lead on persons leaving the country or engaging in anti-social behaviour. It is too late for persons of my stage in life to decide to enter business ventures,  but we can save many of our young people by placing faith and hope in them.

JEANNE THOMPSON

Nassau,

January 17, 2016.