Youth leader: Newby's remarks misguided

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

One of the youth leaders who have condemned Olivia 'Babsy' Grange's handling of her portfolio has dismissed as misguided Senator Warren Newby's suggestion that he should have been placed on the firing line instead.

"Nobody voted for the senator. We voted for the minister, so why should we voice our concerns to him?" asked Tafari Grayson, president of the Portmore Youth Council, yesterday. "We have youth programmes in Youth Month (November) and she (Grange) came to none of them. She has not been to one of the youth information centres. If Usain Bolt breaks his toenail at 6:59 and it is coming in the news at 7 o'clock, Grange will be there with Usain. Not all youth will be a Usain Bolt, so why no interest placed on other areas?"

Grayson was among the youth leaders whose comments at a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Friday drew Newby's reaction following a story published in The Sunday Gleaner. The other groups represented were the National Youth Council (NYC), the National Youth Parliament (NYP), the University of the West Indies Guild of Undergraduates, and the National Youth Parliamentary Watch Committee.

"I would have been far more comfortable if they had directed their comments at me rather than at the minister," Newby, who is a parliamentary secretary in the youth, sports and culture ministry, said on Sunday. He also criticised Ryan Small, chairman of the NYC and Ruth-Ann Lawrence of the NYP.

However, according to Grayson, Newby's track record has not inspired confidence among his constituents.

"Mr Newby himself is found lacking. He made a host of promises last year and up until now, none have taken," Grayson charged. He questioned the economic sense of opening four new youth information centres, a promise made by Grange at Sunday's Prime Minister's Youth Awards for Excellence, given the poor state of existing centres.

"The Portmore Youth Information Centre, which caters to over 80,000 youth within Portmore and its surroundings, is currently without Internet and telephone service. The light was cut off more than three times and many other youth information centres are faced with these issues."

With a meeting between the minister and the senator, and the youth leaders in the making, he expressed the hope for meaningful dialogue.

"What we seek is the way forward and an articulation of the programmes, policies, and projects which will be undertaken in a bid to develop our nation's youth and the country at large. We do not wish to be dragged into any gutter tangling."