And switching now to crime news, or crime prevention news….
Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa and his Leadership Intervention Unit are hoping to change the dynamic that's fuelling gang warfare.
He appeared on Sunup on 7 this morning to talk strategy with our hosts and explained that the keys to the plan are education and intervention.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"At the cornerstone of this is the recognition that education has to play a pivotal role. We have to keep our young people in school which is why I was very pleased to hear the minister of education say that we are starting free education on the southside of Belize City, which is enormous and so there should be no excuse why our children should not be in school. And you should be equally pleased to hear that we are moving the mandatory age from 14 to 16 years, that you must be in school whether it is in an academic institution or an IT vet, up until the age of 16 years old at the least. We would have wanted it to be 18 but it's a good start moving that post now to 16. So, we have the free education that will be coming on the southside of Belize City as well as a host of other initiatives but starting primarily with intervention. Now, I know the word intervention has gotten a bad wrap because they are saying oh your going and your intervening and your negotiating with gangs, well that is not the case because in a negotiation you have to offer the gangs something, we're not offering the gangs anything, we're telling them that you have to either choose to turn your life around and to lead a positive life or if you continue we will come at you hard, there is a gang membership law that we will be enforced very strictly, very stiffly for up to 20 years in prison, just for being a gang leader, and for being a gang member up to 10 years."
