As Saint Lucia marks its 46th anniversary of independence, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has expressed deep concern over the growing involvement of young men in crime and acknowledged the need for intensified efforts to tackle rising crime, particularly gang violence.
Speaking at the Saint Lucia Community of Barbados Independence Awards Ceremony at the 3W’s Oval, Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies on Thursday night, Pierre highlighted the nation’s economic progress. However, he expressed alarm about the path some young men were taking despite the opportunities available for them to better themselves.
He was particularly concerned about the alarming trend of young men turning to gangs and violence.
“We are very concerned about what’s happening to our young men. At the education level, our girls are doing much better than our young men at school,” he said, though acknowledging that there have been some improvements in that regard.
“We want to expand on that rich intellect that is in St Lucia, but to do that, we have to deal with a growing problem of crime, particularly gun crime.”
The prime minister warned that gang-related killings had reached crisis levels, with the vast majority of last year’s homicides linked to gang activity.
“There seems to be a pandemic of gang crime—young men who went to school with each other, sat on the same bench, who are relatives, have decided that they are going to kill each other,” he said, noting that of the 71 murders last year, about 60 of them gang-related.
To address the issue, Pierre pointed to ongoing social intervention initiatives but acknowledged that more needs to be done.
“We’ve tried with social interventions at the SSDF [Saint Lucia Social Development Fund]. We have a programme, Our Boys Matter, to see if we can get these young men – most of them below the age of 25, and even younger than 15 – back into the system so they can find some reason to live. We are working with the churches and NGOs, and see if we can reconnect the young people in this country into our society,” the prime minister said.
Lol, You’ve only just noticed 😂😜😂 really????
Wow, idiot , you now realize that… man the people who curtail crime before you could not have done by taking soft stance. Not sir John , not KDA, these two men brought down the giants of criminality. But you have el cuappo making you look like a fool. Criminals laughing at you’ll. You better wake up , and please remember you have a high powered weapon out there capable of causing a mass casualty event. Fine the god damn gun……..
Don’t need to look too far for the reason.
Just look at the lack of respect and sarcasm of the comments on this news article.
Right Honourable PM is trying over and over to address this problem. The stink attitude of some people who rant and do nothing is the problem. They don’t care that the PM is a human being with feelings. They behave the same way with their children showing no love and constant neglect. They are the ones trying to bring down our small island nation because they can’t stand to see a son of the soil succeed. Good thing the PM is better than them better than them better than them….
Pandemic the PMs script writer needs to check the meaning. It is fast becoming a lawless society.
Even when they are caught, what happens?
Appear in court, remanded on bail and they go out and re offend.
Electronically tag them and make them work in the community.
Fill potholes, clean drains, cut the roadside vegetation.
Paint some of the old people’s houses.
Above all make them put something back into the community…….