Tonight, 523 persons are left displaced as the Leadership Intervention Unit has paused its work program. The program used to payout 160,000 dollars every two weeks. In its inception, the purpose of the work program was to create a comprehensive anti-violence and youth intervention strategy aimed at reducing gang violence, crime, and social instability among young people in Belize, especially in Belize City. Well today we spoke with the CEO at the Ministry of Home Affairs who explained that this work program was never supposed to become a form of full time employment for these individuals. He added that the pause is necessary to reassess the program since many persons were collecting pay and not working:
Elton Bennett, CEO - Ministry of Home Affairs
"So there are several reasons why we've reached this point. One, there was a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and the Belize city council that has been ongoing for over a year that covers the framework for the LIU and its beautification program in Belize City, the work program. The MOU requires us to revisit this program after a year. It has been well over a year now and it's time for us to take a look at the program to see its effectiveness. That's one. The second reason is because because of the state of emergency that is currently ongoing. We believe that now is a good time to take stock of what we're doing in terms of our anti-violence programs in Belize City in particular. The work program that we're speaking about falls clearly within that. So due to the measures and the efforts of the state of emergency, work program is one of those programs that currently has to go on at least a temporary halt for us to revisit those who are actually on the program and determine their suitability for them to continue on the program. Actually, there are quite a few personnels that got caught up in the SOE that are currently incarcerated there at the Kolbe Foundation. So again, we cannot have these individuals benefiting financially whilst they are incarcerated from this program."
Reporter
"Would you say that this program served a purpose or it was a solution to what you guys were trying to achieve?"
Elton Bennett, CEO - Ministry of Home Affairs
"Indeed, the initial concept was for it to be an employment opportunity for at-risk youths and those who are looking for an alternative to a violent lifestyle. So that was the initial intention of the program. And indeed, there were some individuals who went on this program and were able to move on with their lives. But there are some that are still not in accordance with what we expect in terms of their behavior. And so this is the reason why we are revisiting the program now to determine if these individuals are suitable to continue on the program."
Reporter
"Many of these individuals don't have any other form of work outside of the LIU on work program. How do you guys respond to that?"
Elton Bennett, CEO - Ministry of Home Affairs
"Well, the LIU program itself is not intended to be a lifelong program employment for you. It is only to prepare you for advancement. For example, the LIU program offers trade schools, vocational development for youths. It also provides opportunities for young adults to to be a part of the program and to develop life skills and then move on the LIU programs are not intended to be a career provider for you for the rest of your adult life you're supposed to be able to after being on the program for a while you're required to go off on your own you should develop the necessary skills for you to start a business or for you to be a marketable in some given area so It's not an issue for us to take a pause on this program now, knowing that there are some individuals who are still on it. The program is not intended to be there to sustain you forever. As a matter of fact, we had a meeting yesterday with Minister and the team from LIU, along with the Commissioner of Police and a couple of advisors. What we're looking at now is to try to target the younger persons, youths who are currently at risk and we don't want for them to fall back into the same trap. So it's moving the program to target individuals that we believe would benefit more."
The LIU will be starting projects that will benefit young people in targeted communities.
